FROM THE LIBRARY OF
REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D.
BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO
THE LIBRARY OF
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
Princeton Theological Seminary Library
http://archive.org/details/natbangsOOstev
/
LIFE AND TI
/y
NATHAN BANGS, D.D.
By ABEL STEVENS, LL.D..
AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY, CALLED METHODISM."
2C t ru ]} o r k :
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER,
2 0 0 MULBBBBT-8 T B E B T.
18G3.
Entered according to Acfc of Congress, in the year 1863, by
N. D. BANGS and E. K. BANGS, Executors,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
PREFACE
Dr. Bangs was repeatedly advised in his latter years,
by his official and other associates, that a record of his
life would be important for his Church, if not for himself;
and that he should not fail to leave, at his death, such
notes of the momentous ecclesiastical measures in which
he had shared as might aid in their historical illustration.
When it was made known to me, soon after his decease,
that he had committed to me his papers for a task so
important and delicate, I felt no little reluctance to
undertake it ; for though an author is held responsible
for the interest of his book, yet in biography its interest
must depend more on its subject than on its writer ; and
I supposed that the life of my venerated friend had been
so absorbed in purely ecclesiastical labors as to afford
but comparatively few incidents of biographic and
popular entertainment, however interesting its official
events might be in the history of his denomination. I
was agreeably surprised, however, in examining his
;ndant manuscripts, to find that they abound in per-
sonal and characteristic facts; that the early years of his
public life were spent amid frontier scenes of extraordi-
nary interest ; that his vigorous manhood, for nearly half
a century, was identified with the most popular, as well
a- most momentous m and events <>f his Church :
and that hi- declining singularly prolonged and
serene, presented the picture of an evening of life, envi-
4 P R E F A C E .
able alike to the philosopher and the Christian. I have
seldom, indeed, met with a biographical study more
entertaining or profitable to me personally; presenting
a more effective, a more symmetrical, a more complete
life. If the narrative I have drawn from these mate-
rials fails to make a similar impression on its readers, I
must acknowledge that the failure is chargeable on the
author rather than the subject. I feel assured, neverthe-
less, that no defects of literary execution can essentially
impair the rich lessons of spiritual life and consolation
which are cited from the original manuscripts.
By the license of the title of the book, as the " Life
and Times" of my subject, I have introduced into the
narrative many of his cotemporaries, who were more or
less associated with him in public life ; but the volume
will still be found very deficient in this respect. Re-
peated requests, through the public press, for letters and
other materials from his old associates or their families,
have been but slightly successful. Should there be
an opportunity hereafter to repair this defect, I shall be
happy to avail myself of it. I would also invite correc-
tions of any errors of facts, especially of dates. No
small amount of my facts is historical, and it is important
for the history of Methodism that it should be accurate.
An erratum has escaped my attention on page 70, where
Embury is mentioned as leaving Ireland in 1765. The
date should be 1760. The former is the date given by
Dr. Bangs and most of our other historians. I have long
been convinced that it is wrong. It has been corrected
in this volume, but not till after many sheets were
printed. Abel Stevens.
Mamaroneck Parsonage,
Nov. 2, 1863.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD.
Page
Importance of his Services to the
Church 13
'Growth of Methodism during
his Public Life 14
His Puritan Ancestrv 15
His Father, Lemuel Bangs 16
Character of his Mother 18
Household Life 18
The Village " Parson" 19
The Baptist Pastor 20
Jesse Lee's Itinerant Adven-
tures in Connecticut 21
Emigration of the Family 22
New England Life and" Char-
acter 22
CHAPTER II.
YOUTH.
Early Emigration
A Home in the "Wilderness
The Mother and Child lost in
the Woods
School-teaching
Studies and Amusements
The Methodist Itinerants
He Satirizes them
His Conscience awakened ......
Frontier Dancing
Dram-drinking
Mental Struggles
Emigrates further Westward. . .
The Cityof Buffalo in 1799 ....
Niagara'Falls at the end of the
last Century
CHAPTER III.
LIFE IN CANADA.
Life on the Frontier
Effect of Scenery
Mental Aspirations and Strug-
gles
Doctrinal Sophism
Missionaries
Pago
A Clerical Card-player 39
Calvinism 39
Conversation with a Methodist. 39
An Itinerant in the Wilderness. 40
James Coleman 40
Continued Struggles 42
A Frontier Love-feast 43
Joseph Sawyer 44
His Counsels to the Young Lrf-
quirer 44
A Sister's Usefulness 45
Anecdote of John Bangs 45
A Religious Life openly begun. 45
Persecutions 46
Doffs his Cue and Ruffles and
becomes a Methodist 46
Increased Struggles 47
Deliverance 48
CHAPTER IV.
LIFE LH CANADA.
A new Home 50
Studies Methodist Authors 51
Begins Public Labors 52
Dimdence and Defeats 52
Joseph Sawver 52
Christian W'arner 52
Sanctification 52
Its Importance in Christian The-
ology 52
Wesley's Opinions respecting it 52
A Churchman's Opinion (Note) 54
Experience of it 57
Call to Preach 59
CHAPTER V.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
The Methodist Itinerancy 61
A Dream about Wesley
35 Joseph Sawyer 61
86 Attempts to Preach 62
A BuccesafoJ Trial
37 Accompanies Sawyer on a Cir-
88 cnit 88
39 i Succedb «J4
6
CONTENTS.
Paere
Defeat 64
Attempts to retreat, but is pre-
vented 64
Is licensed to Preach. 65
Buys a Horse and begins to Itin-
erate 65
CHAPTER VI.
METHODISM.
Origin of Methodism 66
Voltaire's Prediction 66
Oxford Holy Club 66
Methodism and Education 66
The True Historical Standpoint
of Methodism 67
The Lay Ministry 68
Its Origin 68
Its Providential Adaptation to
the New World 69
Introduction of Methodism into
America 69
Whitefield 69
Philip Embury 70
Francis Asbury 71
His extraordinary Character and
Success 72
Introduction of Methodism into
Canada 72
Notices of Dr. Bangs' s Fellow-
laborers in Canada 74
Coleman 74
"Wooster 74
Anecdotes 74
Powerful Preaching 75
Anson 76
Crowell and others 77
Early Hardships of the Itiner-
ancy in Canada 79
CHAPTEE VII.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
His first Circuit 80
Niagara 80
Forms a new Circuit, Long Point 81
Condition of the Country 81
Is discouraged 82
Attempts again to Eetreat 82
A Striking Dream 82
Singular Conversions 82
A Man Converted on Horseback 84
Revivals 84
Anecdote, (Note) 85
Opposition 85
Lackington's Memoirs. 85
Slanders against John Wesley. 86
A Severe Trial 87
A Startling Dream 87
A Curious Coincidence 90
Paere
Joy in the Wilderness 91
A Brave Rebuke 92
A Humorist Confounded and
Converted 92
Fate of a Persecutor 93
CHAPTER VIII.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
Removal 97
Niagara Circuit 97
Remarkable Answers to Prayer 97
Sets off for the Bay of Quinte
Circuit 98
Is detained at Toronto 99
Loses his Horse 99
Yonge-street Settlement 99
Quaker " Testimony " 100
Visiting from House to House •
on a large scale 100
An enraged High Churchman. 101
Fallacy of " Impressions " 101
Frontier Life and Manners 102
Characteristic Preaching 102
Contest with a Fiddler 104
With Ruffians on the Highway 105
Remarkable Escape 106
Hardships 107
Adventures among the Quakers 107
Preaching in their Meeting-
house 108
"Hirelings" 109
A Frontier Dancing Scene 110
Interview with an Indian Chief 112
Indian Theory of the Origin of
their Race 112
Extraordinary Reconciliation of
a Discordant Church 113
Change of Circuits 114
CHAPTER IX.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
Bay of Quinte Circuit 116
Hezekiah Calvin Wooster 116
Sanctification 117
Lorenzo Dow 117
A Powerful Whisper 118
Anecdotes • 118
Darius Dunham 119
Elijah Woolsey 119
" Canada Fire " 119
Attack of Typhus Fever 120
Singular Cure 121
His " Double Voice" 123
What caused it 123
Sufferings of the Early Itiner-
ants 124
Locations' 124
He Visits his Parents 125
CONTENTS.
Paeo
The Garrettson Homestead . . . 126
First Attendance at Conferenc
First Impressions of Asbury. . 128
Ordination 129
N(w York Conference inlS04. 130
Appointed to the River Thames 130
CHAPTER X.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
Extent of his Travels 131
A Missionary to the River
Thames 132
The Journey 133 j
A Moravian Mission 135 |
Opens his Mission 13G
Salutations 137
Visits a Jail 139
A Capital Criminal 139
Detroit in 1804 139
A Family Reconciliation 141
A Pestilential Climate 142
Gamblers fleeing before him. . 143
Perils by Flood 144
A Narrow Escape 144
A Winter Retreat 145
A Night in the Woods 145 i
Sudden Death of a Scorner . . . 148
Camp-meetings 148 i
The *« Jerks" 149 I
Description of the first Camp-
meeting in Canada 151
Extraordinary Scenes 152
His Marriage 156
CHAPTER XI.
FRONTIER MINISTERIAL LIFE.
Attends the Conference 157
Offers himself as a Missionary
to Lower Canada 157
Taken Sick on the Way 158 ;
John B. Matthias 158
Joseph Sawyer 158
Descends the St. Lawrence ... 159
Sight of Quebec 159
success 159
Defeat 160
Pecuniary Embarrassments. . . 161
Providential Relief 161
Goes to Montreal 162
Financial Account of the Year 162
Services in Canada 163
Founder of Methodism in Que-
bec 163
CHAPTER XII.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IN THE STATES.
the States 105
Home of nii Futber 105
Appointed to Delaware Circuit 165
The Primitive Methodist Min-
istry 166
He attends the General Con-
ference 167
Negro Worship 1 68
Personnel of tlie Conference. . 108
The Old Western Conference . 169
M'Kendree 169
His Sermon before the Confer-
ence 170
He is elected Bishop 171
Formation of the " Delegated "
General Conference 171
The " Restrictive Rules " 172
Diocesan Episcopacy proposed 172
Returns to Delaware Circuit . . 172
Character as a Preacher 173
CHAPTER XIII.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IN" THE STATES.
New York Conference of 1809. 175
Appointed to Albany Circuit. . 175
Influence of Calvinistic Opin-
ions 175
Their Successful Counteraction 176
A Public Controversy 176
His first Appearance as an Au-
thor 180
" Christianism " 180
Conference of 1810 181
Its Division 181
Its Districts 181
Appointed to New York City. 182
Its Methodist Statistics at the
Time and at his Death 182
Extravagances in Revivals 183
He corrects them 183
A Significant Dream 184
Examples of Pastoral Disci-
pline 185
Asbury 187
Introduces Catechetical In-
struction 188
Ministerial Studies 189
The Greek Language 189
M'Knight 189
Adam Clarke 189
Prosperity of the City Churches 191
The first Delegated General
Conference 191
Its Leading Members 192
Asbury 192
M'Kendree 193
Condition of the Church 193
Coke 193
Election of Presiding Elders. . 193
Sketch of the Controversy on
8
CONTENTS.
t Page
Disapproves the Ordination of
Local Preachers 196
Historical Importance of the
Local Ministry 197
His Services in the General Con-
ference 198
CHAPTER XIV.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IN THE STATES.
Appointed to Lower Canada. . 199
The War interferes 200
Sickness 201
Failure of the Canada Appoint-
ments • 201
Presiding Elder of Rhinebeck
District 203 \
His Success 203
Effects important Reforms 203
Combats with Calvinism 206
Great Improvement of the Dis-
trict 206
His Preaching at this Period. . 207
Publication of his "Errors of
Hopkinsianism " 208
Its large Sale 2i >9
His Theological Studies and
Rank 209
Abolition of the Union of
Church and State irr*"Con-
necticut 210
Visits his Native Village 211
Reflections in its Graveyard . . 211
General Conference of 1816. . . 213
State of the Church 213
His Services in the Conference 214
Ministerial Support 214
Course of Study 214
Founder of the Periodical Lit-
erature of American Meth-
odism . 215
Bishop Coke's Death and Char-
acter 217
Bishop Asbury's Death and
Character 218
Dr. Bangs' s Animadversions
on Asbury 219
His Opinions on the Ministerial
Vocation and on Ministerial
Support 220
CHAPTER XV.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IN THE STATES.
New York Conference of 1817 222
Appointed to New York City 222
Studies 223
Authorship • 223
Pnire
" Predestination Examined " . . 223
The "Reformer Reformed".. 223
Revises the Methodist Hymn
Book 224
Revives Catechetical Instruc-
tion 225
Preaching 225
Success 225
"Down-town" and "Up-town" 225
John-street Chapel rebuilt 226
The Methodist Missionary So-
ciety founded 226
His Agency in its Organiza-
tion 227
Great Results witnessed by him 229
He aids in reviving Educational
Institutions in the Church. . 231
The Wesleyan Seminary 231
Sketch of Methodist Education 231
Becomes Presiding Elder of
New York District 233
A Schism 234
The " Stillwellites " 234
CHAPTER XVI.
SERVICES IN THE BOOK CONCERN.
General Conference of 1820. . . 236
Dr. Bangs's Services during
the Session 237
Is nominated for the Office of
Bishop 238
Initiates the Cause of Educa-
tion in the General Confer-
ence 238
Elected Book Agent and Ed-
itor 238
His Account of the Opposi-
tion to Education 238
Missions 238
His Improvements of the Book
Concern 240
Sketch of its History 240
Remarkable Success of the
Christian Advocate and •
Journal 243
His early Embarrassments in
the Concern 244
Dr. Emory's Services in it 245
Its Destruction by Fire 247
Its re-erection and great suc-
cess 248
"Vindication of Methodist
Episcopacv " 250
The "Reformers" 250
Dr. Bangs's disapproval of
their Course 250
His own Course 251
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
SERVICES IX THE BOOK OOHCXBK.
General Conference of 1824.
State of the Church -
Dr. . rvicea in the
. Conference
Education
Prosperity of the Book Conce:
Re-elected Editor and Agent . . 254
His great Labors 25£
He visits Canada _
At the Grave of his Father. . . 258
Revisits Canada
One of the Founders of the
Methodist Sunday - School
Union 261
Methodism and Sunday-
schools 261
Great Growth of the "Union" 2 -
Results of his Book Agency. . 263
CHAPTER XVIII.
SERVICES IN THE GENERAL CONFER-
ENCE of ; - _ .
Dr. Banks's Services in the
General Conference of 1 - -
The "Radical Controversy" 266
Methodism in Canada 268
He declines an Offer of the
Episcopal Office in Canada. . 269
Prosperity of the Church 270
Elected Editor of the Chris-
tian Advocate
CHAPTER XIX.
SERVICES FROM 1828 TO 1^32.
His numerous Labors
Editorshipof the Advocate. . . 271
His son, William M'Kendree
Bangs, enters the Itineran
Recovery from Sieknec
" Life of Garrettson" 273
History of Methodist Missi*.
" Defense of the Church" .... 274
The "Christian Spectator"
General Conference of 1832 .27
Services at the Session
Ministerial Support 277
Ministerial Improvement ^77
Conference " Course of Stud;.
Progress of Education in the
Church 278
aary Progress
Foreign Missions projected. . . 278
Declines Nomination for the
Episcopate 280
Page
Methodist Quarterly Review
started 281
Appointed its Editor 282
"Letters to a Young Preacher" 283
Controversy -with Bishop Em-
ory 283
Defends Theological Educa-
tion 287
CHAPTER XX.
SERVICES FROM 1832 TO 1836.
Great Growth of the Church. . 29C
Revivals 291
Success of Domestic Missions 293
Foreign Missions begun 293
Melville B. Cox 294
The Flathead Indians
South American Mission 295
Invigoration of the Church. . . 296
Death and Character of Bishop
M'Kendree 297
Death and Character of Bishop
Emory 299
Destruction of the Book Con-
cern by Fire 301
CHAPTER XXL
MISSIONARY SECRETARY.
The General Conference of 1836 304
Dr. Bangs' s Services 304
Prosperity of the Church 305
Increase of Members 305
Educational Institutions 305
Periodicals 305
Missions 305
Dr. Bangs elected Missionary
Secretary 306
Dr. Nast. 306
Remarkable Success of the
German Methodist Missions 306
Travels of the Secretary 307
Animadversions on the Min-
istry 308
Revisits Canada 308
Old Scenes 308
Reflections 309
Journey Southward 309
Meets one of his Brothers 310
Sea-faring Adventures 310
Bishop Moore of Virginia 312
Dr. Sewall 312
Slavery 313
Bishop Hedding 314
~k 314
Dr. Ban^s under Charges before
his Conference 314
The Antislavery Controversy 315
Missionary Tours 328
10
CONTENTS.
Page '
Dangerous Sickness 324
Literary Labors 324
"Original Church of Christ". 325
"History of the Methodist
Episcopal Church " 325
A severe Literary Trial 325
Centenary of Methodism 326
Extraordinary Growth of the
Denomination 327
Eesults of the first four Years
of the Missionary Secretary-
ship 328
CHAPTER XXII.
SERVICES FROM 1836 TO 1844.
Dr. Bangs at the General Con-
ference of 1840 331
Robert Newton 332
Growth of the Church 332
Re-elected Missionary Secretary332
Elected President of the Wes-
leyan University at Middle-
town, Conn 333
Resignation of the Presidency 334
Trials 335
Appointed Pastor of Second-
street Church, New York. . . 335
Sickness 335
Success 336
Reflections 336
General Conference of 1844 337
Division of the Church 338
Its Statistical Growth 339
Disturbances of the Times 339
Dr. Bangs' s Course respecting
them 340
CHAPTER XXIII.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Old Age 341
Ripening Piety and Happiness 341
Sands-street Church 342
Trials in the Pulpit 342
Fails of Election to the General
Conference of 1848 343
Reappointed to Sands-street
with an Assistant 343
111 Health 344
Division of the New York Con-
ference 344
Dr. Bangs preaches on the Oc-
casion 344
Further Remarks on his Trials
in the Pulpit 344
Presiding Elder of New York
East District. 345
Sanctification 345
Visit to Mumaroneck 847
Page
Spiritual Enjoyment 347
Joseph Sawyer again 347
The "Present State and Pros-
pects of the M. E. Church " 349
Seventy-two Years of Age 350
Phoebe Palmer 350
CHAPTER XXIV.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Representative to the Wesleyan
Canada Conference 354
Joseph Sawyer 354
Scenes on the Route 354
William Case 355
Great Changes 355
Scenes in the Conference 356
Reminiscences 357
Changes 357
Recollections of Toronto 361
Dr. Ryerson 361
Return Home 362
Illness 362
The Fear of Death conquered. 362
Constitutional Cause of that
Infirmity 362
Catholic Sentiments 363
Scene in the Christian Alliance 363
Communion of Saints 364
Enjoyment of Natural Scenery 364
Improved Health 365
Physical Habits 366
Religious Enjoyment 366
CHAPTER XXV.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
A Visit to Garrettson's Home-
stead at Rhinebeck. 367
Meetings for the Promotion of
Holiness 368
Christian Experience 368
Death of Dr. Olin 369
Comfort in Trial 370
Addresses Kossuth in behalf of
the Methodist Clergy 372
Interesting Conversation with
Kossuth 372
Death of Susan O. Bangs 373
CHAPTER XXVI.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Delegate to the General Con-
ference of 1852 375
The Session 375
Methodist Press 376
Takes a " Superannuated Rela-
tion " to his Conference 379
Retrospect of his Appoint-
ments 379
CONTENTS.
11
Tranquil Old Age 380
Death of William M'Kendree
Bangs
The "cleansing from all Sin" 383
Happy Old Age 384
Seventy-fifth Birthday Reflec-
tions 385
Religions Comfort 385
r from Rev. Wm, Case.. 386
- in Canada 380
adants of Emhnry 388
'•Golden Wedding"...
Death of Nathan Bangs, Jr. . . 392
CHAPTER XXVII.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Illness 395
Testimony on Sanctification,
and the Relations of Faith
and the Witness of the Spirit
to it 396
Character and Death of Mary
Eliza Bangs 402
Reflections 405
Revivals
Liberal " Donation Visit " . . . . 407
Birthday 409
CHAPTER XXVIII.
LAST DAYS AND DEATH.
Last Davs 41 1
Writings (Note) 411
"Essay on Emancipation" ... 412
Moral Beauty of his Old Age. 412
The Last Scenes 413
The Funeral 416
The Burial 416
Dr. Laban Clark 417
Testimony of his Associates in
the Missionary Cause 418
Of Francis Hall, Esq 419
His Writings 420
His " History of the Methodist
Episcopal Church " 421
His Character 422
His Personal Appearance 423
Conclusion 426
LIFE AND TIMES
NATHAN BANGS, D.D.
CHAPTER I.
IMPORTANCE OF HIS SERVICES TO THE CHURCH.
Dr. Nathan Bangs was not only a public but a rep-
resentative man, in the Methodist Episcopal Church, for
more than half a century. During nearly sixty years he
appeared almost constantly in its pulpits. He was the
founder of its periodical literature, and of its " Conference
course" of ministerial study, and one of the founders of
its present system of educational institutions. He was
the first missionary secretary appointed by its General
Conference, the first clerical editor of its General Con-
ference newspaper press, the first editor of its Quarterly
Review, and, for many years, the chief editor of its
Monthly Magazine and its book publications. He may
be pronounced the principal founder of the American
literature of Methodism; a literature now remarkable
for its extent, and of no inconsiderable intrinsic value.
Besides his innumerable miscellaneous writings for its
periodicals, he wrote more volumes in defense or illus-
tration of his denomination than any other man. He
became its recognized historian. He was one of the
founders of its Missionary Society, he wrote the Con-
stitution and first Circular Appeal of that great cause,
and through sixteen years, prior to the organization of
14 LIFE AND TIMES OF
its secretaryship as a salaried function, he labored inde-
fatigably and gratuitously for the society, as its vice-
president, secretary, or treasurer. During more than
twenty years he wrote all its Annual Reports. After
his appointment as its resident secretary he devoted to
it his entire energies, conducting its correspondence,
seeking missionaries for it, planning its mission fields,
pleading for it in the Churches, and representing it in the
Conferences. It will be monumental of his memory in
all lands to which its beneficent agency may extend, and
if no other public service could be attributed to him,
this alone would render him a principal historic charac-
ter of American Methodism, if not, indeed, of American
Protestantism. He was, withal, a man of profound
piety, of universal charity, and much and admirable
individuality.
GEOWTH OF METHODISM DTTEING HIS PUBLIC LIFE.
When he began his public career, Methodism reported,
in all the New World, about eighty-six thousand com-
municants and three hundred and fifty preachers; at the
time of his death they amounted to more than two and
a half millions of communicants and thirteen thousand
traveling preachers.* Few men, if any, have longer or
more successfully labored to promote those great inter-
ests of the denomination which have given it consolida-
tion and permanence. If greater men have, especially
in his latter years of comparative retirement, more
actively represented it, no one, in our day, has embodied
in himself more of its history, no one has linked so much
of its past with its present. It has been justly said that
he ranks next to Asbury in historical importance in his
Church. Twice did his brethren offer him the Episcopal
chair, which Asbury had so ably occupied, and he would
* Compare " Minutes of Methodist Episcopal Church, 1801," with
Schem's " Ecclesiastical Year-Book, 1860." The estimate, in the text,
includes the West India Islands and the British North American Prov-
inces.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 15
probably have been elevated to it had not his character-
istic self-distrust, and the conviction that he could be
more useful in his literary labors, interfered. The serv-
ices of such a man merit public commemoration. His
history is a public property, and can hardly fail to be
alike interesting and instructive.
HIS PURITAN ANCESTRY.
He was born in the town of Stratford, Conn., May 2,
IV 78, and sprang from a good Puritan stock. Edward
Bangs, supposed to be the first American ancestor of all
who bear the name of Bangs in this country, came from
England in the Anne, one of the first three vessels which
arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The other two
were the Mayflower and the Fortune. The passengers
in these three vessels are commonly called the Pilgrims,
as they united in forming the Colonial Government, and
shared in the division of the colonial lands. The May-
flower arrived in December, 1620; the Fortune in No-
vember, 1621; the Anne in July, 1623.
In the year 1623 a division of their lands was made
by the Plymouth colonists. Among these is the name
of Bangs, (no Christian name being given,) to whom
four acres are assigned. The portion of " Bangs " was
one of the allotments which are described as lying on
the " other side of town, toward the Eel River." In
1627, at a public court, it was agreed to divide the
" stock " of the settlement, by lot, among the companies
of the three ships, the Mayflower, the Fortune, and the
Anne. The settlers were divided into twelve companies,
and lots were drawn. Edward Bangs was in the twelfth,
with twelve other persons. In 1627 a second division
of lands was made, of twenty acres to each family, in
addition to the former apportionment; Edward Ba
name is in the list of the six " layers-out." Such are a
few traces of the American progenitor of the family, to
be found in "The Old Colony Records." Slight as they
16 LIFE AND TIMES OF
appear, to American minds they have a higher signifi-
cance than any aristocratic heraldry of the Old World.
In 1644 Edward Bangs moved with his family to a
new settlement on Cape Cod, at or near the spot where
the Pilgrims first set foot on land previous to their final
landing at Plymouth. This settlement was afterward
named Eastham. The place where the new settlers located
themselves is supposed to be that part of Harwich which
is now called Brewster, as the descendants of Edward
Bangs for several generations were interred in the burial-
ground of Brewster, where some of their tombstones
still remain, bearing legible inscriptions. Edward Bangs
was probably buried there, but no vestige of his grave
remains. He died in 1678, aged eighty-six years. His
descendants are scattered over the United States. "I
believe," writes one of them, " that the Bangses have
generally been active and useful men. I know many
who have filled important civil, military, and ecclesias-
tical offices."* The name is still familiar on Cape Cod, in
Boston, and other parts of Massachusetts, in New Hamp-
shire, Vermont, and New York. Mementoes of its
Pilgrim honor are preserved with reverent care, f
HIS PAEENTS.
Lemuel Bangs, the father of Nathan, left a genealogical
record, in which he says: "My father's name was Joseph,
of the town of Harwich, in the county of Barnstable, on
Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He died in Phillips's Patent,
in. the State of New York, in 1757." Lemuel Bangs,
himself, was an honest, intelligent, stalwart blacksmith,
and a staunch Churchman withal, notwithstanding the
Puritanic traditions of his family. He relieved the toils
* " Genealogical Account of the Family," prepared by T. D wight
Bangs, Esq., of Lima, N. Y. See " Life of Rev. John Bangs," Ap-
pendix.
t In Worcester, Mass., the family of Edward D. Bangs, late Secre-
tary of State, preserves the family "coat of arms," of very curious
workmanship, and other relics.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 17
of his laborious craft by a habitual devotion to books,
and acquired sufficient mathematical knowledge to be-
come a successful surveyor, an art which he taught his
son Nathan.
Another son, Rev. Heman Bangs, writes : '' My father,
Lemuel Bangs, was from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He
was a commissary in the old French war, an adjutant in
the war of the Revolution, and fought for the independ-
ence of his country. I have sat at his feet, when a little
boy, for hours, hearing his war stories ; his graphic ac-
count of Tories and Cow-boys interested me exceedingly.
I conceived a perfect abhorrence for both, and such a love
for the Whigs of those days, and the freedom of my
country, as has never cooled in my heart to this day.
The education of my father was above the mediocrity of
his times. He was a great reader during his whole life,
and his memory was so tenacious that he retained what
he read. One instance I give you. He sat once, in his
old age, hearing his son Nathan preach. In his ardor or
haste Xathan made an incorrect quotation from an En-
glish author. My father noticed it at once, and spoke
right out to him before the congregation, making the
necessary correction.
"He had taught school and surveyed lands, but his
business properly was that of a blacksmith. He mar-
ried for his first wife a Miss Hall, by whom he had
five children, all of whom are dead. His second wife
was Rebecca Keeler, of Ridgefield, Conn. They had
nine children, seven of whom experienced religion youn'g
and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church; four sons
b >ming preachers. They have all gone home to
heaven but one sister and myself. My father was strongly
attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and all his
children were baptized in that Church. When the Meth-
-t came into his neighborhood he was bitterly
opposed to them; and although most of hia children
joined them, he would not consent to hear them preach.
2
18 LIFE AND TIMES OF
because they were uneducated. But the old man's prej-
udices were overthrown when his son Nathan came down
from Canada a Methodist preacher. He consented to
allow him to preach in his house, because he thought
Nathan had some sense and learning. From this time
he went frequently to hear them. He was a man of strict
integrity and truth ; and in the new country to which he
moved with his family in 1793, I have known him fre-
quently to call the scattered neighbors together and read
prayers and a sermon for them, and when the preacher
was absent or sick he would read the liturgy in the
church. He found redemption in the blood of Christ
when he was about seventy years of age, lived many
years afterward, and died in the faith.* He was a candid
and shrewd judge of preaching. I remember well what
a cross it was, when I first began to preach before him.
My mother was a noble woman ; with little of this world's
goods, she kept her children comfortable in a new and
poor country, and lived to see eight of them grow up to
man's estate ; all, but one, members of the Church, and
half of them ministers of the Gospel. In 1809 the family
moved into Upper Canada, where she died in the faith,
as I have been informed."
HIS CHILDHOOD.
When Nathan was about four years old, the family
moved from Stratford to the parish of Poquanock, in the
town of Fairfield, near Bridgeport, Connecticut. In an
autobiographical sketch he records that his earliest recol-
lection was his passage to this new home. His second
lemembrance was characteristic of the New England life
of that day ; it was of his first walk from home to the
district school, with a Bible in his hand. He could read
it ; and it was to be the text-book, not only of his school
days, but of his whole life. He had an avidity for knowl-
* He never joined the Methodist Church. The reasons he gave were
his age, and the similarity of the doctrines of the two Churches.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 19
edge ; but the severity of the village schoolmaster ex-
cited in him an aversion to the school. "The boys were
1 most unmercifully for every little fault." He
acknowledges, however, that he himself was naturally
irritable, and that it was owing to the determination of
hi- mother, "a most sensible, resolute woman," that he
endured the discipline of the unrelenting pedagogue ; she
sometimes drove him to the school, whip in hand. He
records with affectionate gratitude and admiration her
motherly tenderness in all other respects, her skill in the
management of her household, the enjoyments she pro-
vided for her numerous circle of children, the competence
which her economy secured to their humble home ; but
also the matronly authority and firmness with which she
governed it.
THE VILLAGE "PAKSOX."
The family papers before me afford but few glimpses
of the domestic life at Fairfield : but these all show that
it was virtuous and happy ; of the genuine type of the
New England life of that, and, it may be added, of our
day. The father, after the labors of the anvil, spends
the long winter evenings in his favorite recreation of
reading ; he instructs Xathan, apparently his most hope-
ful child, in matters of learning, especially in the mathe-
matics of surveying ; he teaches him the lessons of the
Bible, and trains him in the habit of reading; it through
once a year. He holds the family group spellbound,
late into the night, by the story of his adventures in the
old French war and the Revolution ; and fails not to
inspire them with enthusiastic love of Washington and
their country, and with detestation of all tories and trai-
tors. The "parson" of the village occasionally appears
in the circle. Xathan recites the Church Catechism to
him on Sunday afternoons. "I owe," he writes, "much
of that religious bias by which my mind was afterward
swayed, to this fact." The parson, however, did not
20 LIFE AND TIMES OF
come up to his ideal of an apostle. He was very kindly
disposed toward the young people of his parish ; he
approved of their dancing parties, and favored the vil-
lage fiddler. The latter was sometimes permitted to
perform in the parsonage while the youth of the parish
" tripped it on the light fantastic toe ;" and the few vil-
lage churchmen often "drank to excess," and were given
to card playing. At "pastoral visitations" to the Bangs
family, the fiddler and the young men and maidens of
the parish would close the evening in the highest spirits
under the smiles of the indulgent parson ; while the lat-
ter, and the equally indulgent blacksmith, would con-
duct elaborate arguments among the older guests in
defense of the happiness and hilarity of the young peo-
ple. " The young people," concluded the parson, " must
have some amusement, and they may as well have this as
any other." " Thus was I taught in my youth," wrote
Nathan in later years.
THE BAPTIST PASTOR.
The Baptist preacher of the village, a very different
character, occasionally sat in the family group at the
winter evening hearth. He was " a good, pious man,
though of small abilities as a preacher," writes Dr.
Bangs. " The impression of his conversation and preach-
ing has never been effaced from my mind. I think
I can see him now, very aged, with a long visage, few
teeth, strong voice, and quaint wit." His preaching was
home-directed and often alarming. He was fond of col-
loquial theological discussions, and held many a sturdy
argument with the blacksmith on the " succession," epis-
copacy, and baptism ; exciting the curiosity and wonder
of the school-boy, and usually bringing the debate to
such a conclusion as left both preacher and blacksmith
claiming the victory.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 21
LEE'S ITINERANT ADVENTURES IN CONNECTICUT.
When Nathan was about eleven years old, rumors
became rife of a strange man who had come to the state
from the South, and was traveling through its villages on
horseback, and in a costume of Quaker-like simplicity; a
very " remarkable man," who preached every day and sev-
eral times a day, and went everywhere, without knowing
any person ; exceedingly good-humored, witty even ; of
a most musical voice, making his hearers smile or weep
as he pleased, but mostly weep ; " holding forth " in the
court-houses, the school-houses, sometimes in the more
liberal village churches, but oftener under the trees of
the highway. He frequently lighted the court-house him-
self, and then rung the bell to call out the people. The
pastors and deacons valiantly resisted him as a heretic,
for he was an Arminian. Thev turned his discourses into
interlocutions by their questions and disputations, but he
confounded them by his tact if not by his logic. He
scattered the village wits or wags by his irresistible
repartees ; and scores and hundreds of drunkards and
other reprobates were reformed, and many a good man,
despondent under the old theology, was comforted by
the refreshing doctrine of the itinerant evangelist. Many
who liked his theology could not approve his preaching,
because he acknowledged that he was not an " educated
minister." The pastor, and sometimes the village lawyer
or doctor, tested him with Latin and Greek phrases ; he
responded in Dutch, a knowledge of which he had picked
up in his childhood. They supposed this to be Hebrew,
and retreated, or took sides with him as competent to
preach. But above all, he was evidently an earnest and
devout man; he prayed mightily and preached over-
whelmingly. This evangelist was JesseLee, the "Founder
of Methodism in New England," the results of whoso ,
labors are now seen in almost every city, town, and
hamlet in the Eastern States. Lemuel Ban#s was not
22 LIFE AND TIMES OF
an illiberal man, for he had broken away from the Puritan
Church, but he was given to books, and held to the New
England traditional reverence for education. He resisted
the temptation of his curiosity to hear this wonderful
itinerant, because Lee was not educated. Lee came to
the town, induced the schoolmaster to send word by the
children to their families, that he would preach in the
court-house that evening, and he did preach there with
good effect ; but the blacksmith's family were kept in
close quarters at home. They could not fail, however,
to hear of the doctrines of the new " sect," which was
soon " everywhere spoken against," and the staunch father
was to live to see nearly all his children in its communion,
and most of his sons in its ministry.
NEW ENGLAND LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Nathan became a robusj; youth, of athletic habits and
active mind. He had succeeded well in the studies of the
village school, and his father fondly hoped to be able, to
afford him a liberal education ; but the increasing wants
of a large household began to press heavily on the
worthy blacksmith's energies. He was compelled, like
many of his eastern countrymen, to look westward
for a new home. At last, in the thirteenth year of
Nathan, the family pulled up its stakes, and " emigrated"
to what was then a wilderness region of New York.
But the character of the boy and of the whole family had
been thoroughly moulded by their Puritan life. It was
now next to impossible that they could fail to be intel-
ligent, virtuous, industrious, and successful.
" Diederich Knickerbocker" early drew pictures of
New England life, designed as harmless caricatures,
which have unfortunately left a false impression of its
character on much of the public mind, not only of
Europe, but of America beyond the limits of the Eastern
States. Soberly and literally may it be said that the
mass of the people, in no other community of the globe,
NATHAN BANGS. I> 1> 23
have better provisions for education and religious instruc-
tion, more social or industrial advancement, more com-
fortable homes, more of what constitutes the intrinsic
improvement and happiness of a people, than the Ameri-
can states formed from the Puritan Pilgrims. The
Xew Englanders peculiar skill in business, in bargains,
has been imputed to peculiar avarice rather than to his
peculiar intelligence and enterprise ; but no people
expend so liberally on schools, churches, public roads,
and on the comfort of their homes. None prize educa-
tion more ; the statistics of none show better general
morals ; none carry with them better elements for the
formation of new states in the great domains of the
West. One third of the population of the nation has
sprung from these people; but it owes to them two
thirds of its intelligence and enterprise. The severity of
their climate and their long winter evenings give a pecul-
iar importance to their home life, .and the universal
diffusion of intelligence, by an unsurpassed system of
common schools, gives to their in-door life the charms of
books, of the literary journal, of music, and fireside con-
verse. Happy the children who carry with them into the
world the reminiscences of such homes ! Young Bangs
going, for the first time, to the primary school with the
Bible in his hand, presents, we have said, the best type
of the New England training of childhood. The primary
school and the Bible will reveal their effects in all the
remainder of his life.
24 * LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER II.
EAELT EMIGKATION".
The emigration of a New England family was a much
more serious undertaking, in that day, than it is in
ours, though the " far West " was then but the interior
of New York, or the western regions of Pennsylvania
and Virginia. Adventurous spirits — pioneer hunters
rather than " settlers " — pushed beyond, and disappeared,
with ax and rifle, in the distant wilderness ; but most
large families were content to pause within the frontiers
of civilization. The public conveyances were poor, the
roads were bad, and travel slow. The male members
of the moving company trudged along on foot, with
knapsacks on their backs, while a large wagon conveyed
the women and children. The breaking up of the old
homestead was often a scene of pathetic interest. There
were the adieus of neighbors, the final farewells of the
old, the pledges of the young to meet again in the far-
off lands; the benedictions of pastors; and the rending of
a thousand endeared local ties. But the adventures of
the long journey, the romance of the new wilderness life,
its very privations and hardships, were captivating to
the imaginations of not only the young but of the old.
To the latter such a domestic revolution seemed a re-be-
ginning of life, to the former its real beginning.
A HOME IN THE WILDEENESS.
A boy yet, hardly more than a child — thirteen years of
age — young Bangs set out with his oldest brother, " the
advance guard " of the domestic party, " to prepare
the way." " We traveled," he says, " a hundred and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 25
fifty miles on foot, with our knapsacks on our backs, and
endured no small difficulties on the way, but safely
arrived in what is now called Stamford, Delaware
Count v, Xew York, in the autumn of 1791."
They found themselves in the primeval wilderness ;
and " went to work, preparing log-cabins for the
accommodation of the family during the winter, which
was at hand." It was laborious work for boys, and they
had hardly got one of their rude structures erected when
it was destroyed by fire. " So all our labor," he writes,
"was lost; and when we saw that we could do nothing
to save it. we sat down and wept." There were a few
scattered settlers in the region ; " they sympathized with
us," he adds, " and turning out, helped us to repair our
loss ; and soon my father arrived to cheer us with his
presence. Still later came my mother, with the rest of
the family, and we were all at last safely domiciled in
our humble habitation. Being in a new country, hard
labor was necessary to make a living. Sometimes my
father had to go twenty or thirty miles to obtain bread
for us, and we learned thoroughly the hardships and
privations incident to a pioneer life." But he describes
this life as having also peculiar charms. Every energy
was called into play — and that was genuine happiness.
Nature around them was clothed with grandeur, even
in the midwinter. The scenes of the wilderness ; the
mountains which stretched away to the east ; the roman-
tic streams which have their sources in that country; the
deer chased by the hunter over the snows ; the wild
music of the birds in the spring-time ; even the grand
storms at nicrht, bending the forest and resounding amon^
the mountains, gave interest to the days and evenings of
their solitude.
MOTHER AXD CHILD LOST IN THE WOODS.
This solitude was not, however, without its alarms, if not
its perils. The few settlers were remote from one another,
26 LIFE AND TIMES OF
and the roads, or paths, were slight and often obliterated
by the snows of winter. " My mother," he says, " went,
with a little daughter, to visit one of our nearest neigh-
bors. On returning, night overtook them, and they were
lost in the woods. After wandering a long while, they sat
down in despair of finding their way out. We became
uneasy and dispatched a messenger for them. We ascer-
tained that they must have lost their way, and all of us
turned out in every direction, shouting to our utmost,
but could not find them. Early in the morning, how-
ever, they made their appearance, and I shall never
forget the countenance of my mother at that moment ;
it was the very expression of grief and anxiety, mixed
with grateful joy. She informed us that, failing to find
her way home, she sat down in the forest, covered the
child as well as she could with her clothes, and by fric-
tion kept it and herself from freezing during the long
night, for it was cold with the frosts of March, and
there was snow on the ground. She had heard our
voices, but could not decide which way to go to find her
way out, and her replies wer£ too feeble to be heard by
us. But though the night had been sad, the morning
was joyful in our log-cabin, and we ate our bread with
gladness."
STUDIES AND AMUSEMENTS.
The hardy labors of the farm were a good physical
education to young Bangs; and his intellectual training
was not neglected during the long winter evenings.
When about seventeen years old he was judged compe-
tent to be a teacher, and was received into the family of
a merchant near Schoharie, Ulster County, as domestic
tutor. It was in a Dutch neighborhood, and afforded
him interesting opportunities of studying new phases
of human nature. " The family," he says, " treated me
with more respect than I deserved. They observed
some of the forms of religion ; at least ' grace ' was said
D.D. 27
aloud at every meal, by one of the children, with folded
hands. I had sufficient leisure to indulge my ruling
passion for acquiring knowledge ; but I also indulged my
love of frivolous amusements among the neighboring
young people, especially danciug, of which I was exces-
sively fond. I suffered, however, much disadvantage in
not knowing the Dutch language, for they used it habit-
ually among themselves. After residing with this kind
family about four months, I had so far gained the confi-
dence of its head, Esquire Hardenburgh, as to be recom-
mended by him to teach a public school. I took charge
of one, on the east branch of the Delaware, near what
is now the town of Roxbury: a romantic region, with
mountains, rising on either side of the valley, robed in
dense forests ; the Delaware, a mere streamlet, flowing
along the vale from its fountain in one of the mountains,
and banked with rich meadows on which already grazed
herds and flocks. Altogether it was a most picturesque
scene, and filled my imagination with delight. I can-
not describe the emotions I felt when I first entered this
settlement and gazed upon the grand and beautiful out-
lines around me. The majority of the settlers were
Dutch, but though they spoke their native language
among themselves, they could generally converse with
me in English, and with few exceptions they treated me
not only with respect, but with hearty rustic kindness.
I entered upon my duties with delight, and, as far as I
could learn, discharged them to the satisfaction of my
employers. But had my lot been cast among a different
people I might have made considerable literary advance-
ment. I hungered for knowledge, but the general igno-
rance of the settlers and the want of books deprived me
almost entirely of the means of gratifying this taste.
An intimacy, however, which I formed with an intelli-
gent young merchant, afforded us some opportunities of
profitable and delightful intercourse, in reading and con-
versation, on subjects which came within our reach.
28 LIFE AND TIMES OF
We met together once a week, and read, and strove
hard to understand, Locke's Essay on the Understanding.
Having learned the art of surveying, both theoretically
and practically, from my father, who was county sur-
veyor while he lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, I taught
it to my friend, and we used to amuse ourselves, at least,
with mathematical studies."
His knowledge of surveying was a source of some
pecuniary advantage to him in the settlement. Much of
his leisure time was spent in measuring lands, dividing
farms, and in preparing deeds and leases.
" But," he continues, " these advantages were more
than counterbalanced by the evils with which I was sur-
rounded. Dancing, card-playing, and gay associations
with the young people, and the almost universal custom
of drinking ardent spirits (though seldom to excess)
drove all serious thoughts from my mind."
THE METHODIST ITINEEANTS.
" There was no regular religious worship yet in the
settlement; but a Methodist itinerant occasionally reached
us and gave us a sermon, and a small Methodist class
met in the neigborhood. These people were considered,
by those with whom I associated, as fanatics, and were
treated with contempt. I would sometimes, however,
go to hear their preacher, and I remember one Sabbath
morning I was sitting in the little assembly, listening
with much sobriety to the sermon, when a witty young
man at my side, with whom I had been on a ' frolic ' a
few evenings before, whispered in my ear a jocose allu-
sion to the gay occasion, whereupon we both burst into
an immoderate laugh, an irreverence which I never
allowed myself to be guilty of willingly. The preacher
stopped, stamped his foot, and said, 'There is no laugh-
ing in hell!' I was ashamed of my conduct; but it was
only an example of the manners of the time in the treat-
ment of the Methodists."
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 29
SATIRIZES THEM CONSCIENCE AWAKENED.
He had but little scruple, however, in privately join-
ing in the common ridicule of these supposed fanatics.
About this time he was attacked by an epidemic disease
and suffered -seriously ; but, when visited by one of his
gay comrades, he raised himself in his bed and "made
a prayer in mockery of the Methodists !" Yet he records
that lie was inwardly wretched during this apparent
recklessness, "troubled with a secret misgiving that
they were right and he wrong." He could not get rid
of a certain religious thoughtfulness, the effect, perhaps,
partly of his education, partly of his temperament, and
which, immediately after this profane scene, overwhelmed
him. In a few days he rose from his sick bed, but was
so feeble that he returned to his father's house at
Stamford for rest and medical treatment. There his
mind was smitten with anguish ; he refused to eat ; he
apprehended death as at hand. "My conscience," he
writes, " awoke ; all the sins of my life seemed vividly
brought to my recollection. Such was the weight of my
guilt that I felt as if I should sink into perdition. For
the first time in my life I began to call upon God ;
for though I had habitually used the prayers taught me
in my childhood, I had never really prayed before. God
graciously pleased to restore me by degrees to
health. After ray recovery I felt a strong desire to de-
vote myself to his service; but how delusive are the
snares of the world! I did not long yield to that desire,
although I have no doubt that at the time He gave me a
measure of grace and peace, for I felt much sweetness in
secret prayer, in reading the Scriptures and other reli--.
. in meditating devoutly on the works of God
so grandly spread out around me; and I could no
him lor his tender mercy in Bparing my lift,'. To
seclude myself from company and Bpend ray time in
ing and devotion were my principal delight. But the
30 LIFE AND TIMES OF
rock upon which I was wrecked was the fact that I did
not make known my new condition to any one, nor seek
to associate with those who could instruct me, from their
own experience, in the ways of godliness. Having failed
to confess Christ, I 'grieved the Holy Spirit.' I gradu-
ally lapsed into negligence, and began to hanker after my
old pleasures. I evaded my conscience even in prayer ;
as an example, I may state that I was invited to a
Christmas-eve ball about this time, and actually, on my
knees, asked liberty from God to attend it ; saying, with
Naaman, 'The Lord pardon thy servant in this thing.'
I went, but, alas ! what trouble of conscience I felt
while leading off the dance !" He attempted to drown
his anguish by ardent spirits, and by plunging into the
gayest hilarity of the evening, but he could not. " And
though I continued," he adds, " for more than four years
in this state, I did not lose my convictions, nor did my
desire to serve God ever become extinguished."
FRONTIER DANCING.
His scruple against dancing was entirely the suggestion
of his awakened conscience. He had been educated to
esteem that recreation as quite innocent. It was approved
by his father and by the strictest Christians of the settle-
ment, as was also the use of intoxicating liquors. A con-
siderable community of Scotch Seceders had, by this
time, settled in the neighborhood ; and no more rigid sect
was known in the nation ; yet the evening ball and the
social dram had their fullest practical sanction. Almost
every week, in the long leisure of the autumn and winter
nights, a dancing assembly for the young people of the
♦settlement was held. Religion itself gave countenance to
these occasions. At about 10 o'clock P. M. the father of
the house, attended by the aged members of his family,
would enter the ball-room with the old family Bible,
brought from the fatherland, in his hand. The dancers
would pause with reverence, listen to a chapter, join in
D.D. 31
a long psalm, hear a longer prayer, and then, after a few
words of religious counsel, resume the sport with a hearty
"Good-night" to the retiring elders; and the hilarity of
the company kept pace with the remaining hours till the
dawn. The pastor himself would sometimes attend these
occasions, and after the prayer would take his 'leave of
the dance-room with the apostolic benediction !
DRAM-DRINKING.
As for dram-drinking, the good repute of a family
for hospitality was forfeited if it offered not the bottle to
every visitor. Drunkenness, of course, could not but be
frequent in such temptations ; but, though treated with
much lenity, it was discreditable. The most rigid of
the Seceders were sometimes overtaken by it; and if
they fell into the fault on Saturdays, which was most
commonly the case, they were likely to be detected the
next day, for their strict consciences would not allow
them to shave on Sundays, and their neglected faces would
tell the story in the congregation. Their old pastor, a
man of mighty authority, would sometimes point them
out publicly, and thunder at their self-convicted sins ; not
.rich, however, because they had been drunk, as be-
cause they had deferred their self-indulgence till Saturday,
and thereby risked the right observance of the Sabbath.
He himself had his freaks with the bottle, and was
kindly disposed toward such frailties, if they were only
not allowed to interfere with his Kirk rights over the
people. On town-meeting days and all secular holidays
a large liberty was allowed, and many a grave Secede r
availed himself of it among his hilarious juniors. The
old pastor himself forgot his usual official dignity on one
oft; s. lie had indulged himself so freely
amon:: his neighbors that a group of youths in the str<
perceived hi- condition. They called upon him for a
sermon, to be paid for 1>\ of brandy, a
luxury than whisky, their mmmon dram. Taking his
32 LIFE AND TIMES OF
stand in a gateway, and sustaining himself, with out-
stretched hands, by the gate-posts, he attempted to
" hold forth," but ignominiously broke down. As it was,
however, a public day, and the disgraceful scene was
venial, he was only fined by his Church authorities some
twelve dollars, and resumed his usual dignity and severity
in the pulpit. It was amid such examples that the con-
science of young Bangs was now struggling with him
for the life of his soul.
MOEAL STKTTGGLES.
He had heard of the Methodists while yet in the East ;
and here, in the wilderness, had he again found them on
his track ; though they had been but objects of his ridicule,
yet he had listened to them, and now could not escape
the lessons they had taught him. He was to meet them
again, and until that meeting — during all these four years
in fine — he was an " awakened" man. " Sometimes," he
writes, " such awful apprehensions of God's just dis-
pleasure would seize upon my soul as to embitter all the .
enjoyments of life, and make me wish for annihilation.
When I would do good, evil was present with me, and
bore me away in its torrent toward the gulf of destruc-
tion. No one can tell, but he who has felt the like, the
bitter anguish I felt while wandering alone in the forests
mourning my hopeless condition ; and often, while in the
seeming gayeties of life, have I envied the dog his happi-
ness. In short, I went on sinning and repenting, vowing
amendment and breaking my vows, until it is a wonder
that the long-suffering of God did not consign me over
to remediless misery."
There are few men, perhaps none, in Christian lands
at least, who do not know more or less of such expe-
riences ; for " it is the Spirit that quickeneth," and " the
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal." They are epochs in the lives of thoughtful
men. They are, indeed, the "awakening" of the soul.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 33
It is then that its illuminated sight pierces through the
vail of visible things and sees the spiritual universe — sees
the far-off and everlasting realities that give importance
to our probationary life, and significance and dignity to
death itself: as the astronomer, by telescopic vision, be-
holds, beyond the range of the visible worlds, the shining
of other suns and systems. When in early life they are
profound and enduring, as in this case, they cannot fail
to impress the whole moral man ; the heart becomes
more tender, the conscience more scrupulous ; there can
be no little sins to such a mind ; all truth and duty take
a diviner hue in the light reflected from the higher
worlds ; life, suffering, death, receive their clearest, sub-
limest explanation. It should be no matter of surprise
if the mind, suddenly thus awakened, loses somewhat
its tranquil self-control, and becomes even morbid; for
so purely physical, or rather animal, is our ordinary life,
so limited its view to material and passing things, that
the sudden apprehension of our relation to the spiritual
universe and of our everlasting destination in it, is
dazzling and overwhelming as would be the sudden
breaking away of the clouds and outshining of the
sun at noonday to a man who had always lived in
darkness.
Young Bangs seemed now for the first time to under-
stand why he lived, and why he was to die; and the
►very was like the awakening from a dream which
had hitherto deluded his whole life. "Though immersed,"
lie writes, "in youthful gayeties, and apparently cheerful,
yel inwardly I felt such anguish as made me desire death.
I often wished for some Becluded spot, in the desert, where
I might dwell in solitude and bemoan my sad state :
sinful man, beyond the haunts of men. In my occasional
meditative walks in the woods 1 felt the truth which
Wordsworth put- into the mouth of the Wanderer:
" ' He who, by -willful disesteem of life,
And proud insen-ihilitv to ho]
3
34 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Affronts the eye of solitude, shall learn
That her wild nature can he terrible ;
That neither she nor silence lacks the power
To avenge their own insulted majesty.' "
" To pass over many incidents of this period of my life,
I will only remark that after continuing about three years
in this state of mind, though well enough off as to the
interests of this world, I again returned to my father's
house and taught a school in. the vicinity."
EMIGRATES FURTHER WESTWARD.
" In the spring of this year my brother-in-law, Seth
Smith, and two of his brothers, determined to move still
further westward, to Upper Canada. I resolved to
accompany them ; my parents gave their consent ; and on
the 9th of May, 1799, having just entered my twenty-
first year, we set off. It was no small trial to bid fare-
well to father and mother, brothers and sisters, for what
was then deemed a distant land. My father presented
to me his surveying instruments, thinking it probable I
might obtain employment with them in the new country.
We traveled with an ox team, which carried our goods,
clothes, and provisions. Our progress was slow, the
roads, after leaving the Mohawk Valley, being bad, as
the country was but recently and quite sparsely settled.
We enjoyed ourselves, however, very agreeably on the
way ; the vernal scenery, the passage along the streams
and valleys, the night camps in the woods, the open
air life with its keen appetite and exhilarating freshness,
relieved the tediousness of our slow progress. When
we arrived at Buffalo, we found only two or three log-
huts, occupied by some half-clad miserable people. We
crossed the Niagara River from Buffalo to Fort Erie, at
the outlet of Lake Erie ; and so we were in a strange
land, beyond the limits of our native country. But I
believe a good Providence conducted my wayward feet
thither for my own good, and, I hope, for the good of
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 35
others ; for here, in the remote wilderness, was I to find
the light and peace which I had so long sought, and
thence proclaim the same blessings through most of
Upper Canada, and in many parts of my own nation."
NIAGARA FALLS IX 1799.
" The day after our arrival in Canada we reached the
Falls of Niagara. Here we made a halt, and went down
to the river's hank to view the stupendous scene. The
water comes rushing and foaming down for two or three
miles, before it reaches the chute, where it plunges, in two
immense masses, one hundred and seventy feet into the
yawning gulf, and then sweeps away, in whirling eddies
and billows, about seven miles, into Lake Ontario. We
stood in silent awe as we gazed upon this wonder of
creation. I lay down upon Table Rock, which shelved
over a part of the frightful abyss and shook with the
unceasing thunder of the waters ; and as I looked down,
I became dizzy and appalled. The rock has changed
much since that 'day. Xo description of this grand
scene, that I have seen, approaches the reality as it thus
appeared to me at the close of the last century. Its
int thunder, heard for miles around, its solemn
grandeur, its indescribable combination of power, beauty
and sublimity, overpowered the mind, and silence was the
best expression of the spectator. At that time there was
no house near the falls on either side of the river, but they
burst upon the view of the visitor in the midst of the
aboriginal wildness of nature. I have seen them perhaps
a hundred times since ; the falls themselves are sacred
from the hand of man, but how have their surroundings
been changed ? Xow there are busy villages on both
8, a suspension bridge in sight, a railroad upon it,
a ferry across the river almost beneath the cataract, a
bridge from the American side to Goat Island. Nearly
ound has changed; but the grand, the
awful falls, thunder on."
36 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER III.
LIFE IN CANADA.
He had thus plunged further into the western wilder
ness, but more for the diversion and relief of his troubled
mind, than from motives of adventure or gain. He
could not, however, escape from himself. He was here
still surrounded with the native grandeur and solemn
solitude of nature. Contemplative minds behold in
these vast and tranquil scenes a reflection of the infinite,
and experience not only a poetic, but a religious thought -
fulness, often tinged with sadness, if not with melancholy.
Reverence for nature rises into awe for its Creator ; the
contrasted pettiness of the ordinary works and pursuits
of man startles the soul, and awakens aspirations for
something better. The pioneer populations of the Amer-
ican frontiers have always shown a profound suscepti-
bility to religious impressions, and among the many
heroic and saintly men who have illustrated the itiner-
ant ministry of Methodism, none have exhibited more
religious sensibility, more eloquent pathos, more saintli-
ness or heroism, than those who have come forth from
the grand scenes of the far West. To young Bangs
these scenes had an irresistible and pensive fascination,
and in many a lonely woodland walk did he prayer-
fully review those thoughts of good and evil, of the
soul and God, which, for nearly four years, had been
transforming life, death, and the whole universe to his
mind. And here also was he again to meet the perse-
cuted people whom he had ridiculed, who seemed so
strangely to beset his path, and who were, at last, to
afford his anxious spirit its only genuine relief, and
37
open before him the successful career of his public
life.
" Xot finding employment as a surveyor," he writes,
" I took a school, iu a Dutch neighborhood, about ten
miles from Newark, at the head of Lake Ontario, six
miles from Niagara Falls. The mournful thoughts
which passed through my mind while wandering alone
in the forests of this strange country I cannot well
express. Sometimes I would seat myself in the solitary
woods and bewail my condition till my heaving heart
found relief in floods of tears. The best satisfaction I
could find was in being alone, reading, praying, and med-
itating. On one thing I resolved : being now separated
from my former associates, I determined not to entangle
myself again in the vain pleasures of life. When not
engaged in my school duties, reading the Bible and other
good books, and secret prayer, occupied most of my
time."
He discovers among the settlers a family which has a
small library. Milton's Poems, Bunyan's Progress, Her-
vey's Meditations entertain and relieve his melancholy
leisure. He is successful as a teacher, commands much
respect from the people, accumulates some funds, and
is in danger of relapsing into his former moral indiffer-
ence ; but the slightest occurrences recall the subjects of
his serious reflections. He is overtaken in the woods by
night and must cross a dangerous stream in the dark, upon
a narrow branch of a tree ; after passing over, he pauses
to look back in the dim light at the peril he has escaped ; it
presents a figure of his moral danger, wandering in dark-
ness through life, through death, to the infinite future;
and his spirit trembles within him. He resumes his
early habit, enjoined by his father, of reading the Bible
"by course." The dealings of God with the Hebrew
people, their frequent defections, his mercy and j
ments upon them, deeply impress him. " This readh
he says, "gave me more important knowledge than all
38 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the books I had ever read. In studying the New Testa-
ment light poured into my understanding through the
agency of the Holy Spirit, as I now believe, and though
the plan of salvation, by grace through faith, was not
yet clearly revealed to me, I saw myself a justly con-
demned sinner, and perceived the necessity of repent-
ance, though I did not fully comprehend its nature. I
was led to earnest prayer, in secret, for more light,
and for deliverance from the difficulties under which I
groaned."
DOCTEIXAL SOPHISMS.
A drowning man will catch at straws. He opened
his Bible, one Sabbath morning, at the text, " As in
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ;" the
sophism that the final salvation of all men, and there-
fore his own safety, could be inferred from this passage,
was eagerly seized by him ; he cited it to some of his
neighbors ; they reminded him that it only declares the
resurrection of all men, but that among those who " in
the dust of the earth shall awake," there shall rise " some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." His tender conscience recoiled from the
fallacy it had dared to entertain, and again he bowed
his head in compunction before his God. He was, in
fine, passing through a moral training which was to
afford an important preparation for his ministerial life.
He was learning by experience the struggles of a soul
in the process of its regeneration. He was destined to
be, for two generations, the guide and comforter of such
souls, and it was necessary that he should know well
their needs. Had his inveterate prejudices allowed him
to hear the few Methodists who were scattered about
him, he would have found in their liberal but evangelical
doctrines the guidance and consolation he needed ; but
he shunned them as dangerous fanatics. The remote
region where he now lived was occasionally reached by
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 39
wandering clergymen or itinerant missionaries. One,
who was of the denomination in which he had been
trained, arrived there, but could give him no satisfac-
tory instruction. Though in holy orders, he was a card-
player and a drunkard, and performed the liturgical
service with indecent haste, following it with a brief,
rapid, and vapid prelection. A Calvinistic preacher
paused some time in the settlement ; the young teacher
conversed much with him, and sought refuge from his
anxious perplexities in the dogmas of election and the
final safety of the elect. Were he one of these he could
not be lost, whatever his errors, whatever even his sins.
He records that he foimd a momentary, but pernicious
relief in this opinion. He became a zealous j)olemic
among his rustic friends, and held many a sturdy dis-
pute in defense of his new creed ; more, however, to
fortify himself in it than to win them to it, and with
self-complaisant fallacies which no good Calvinist would
admit A Methodist came across his path and was
immediately attacked on the subject ; but the devout
Arminian had other and more personal topics to discuss
with him, and left him with still greater alarms of con-
science. " His words came," he writes, " like a dagger
to my heart, and I could make no reply, but turned
from him, begging him to pray for me. Soon after,
while walking the lonely road, these words of Job
came to my mind with power : ' Who is he that
hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I
uttered that I understood not ; things too wonderful for
me, which I knew not.' They so strongly arrested
my attention that I stood still, in silent amazement and
unutterable humiliation. Such a penetrating sense of
my utter inability to comprehend the deep subject- apoD
which I had been disputing entered my soul, that I was
••fore God confessing my littleness and wil-
fulness. Fur a time I dared not to advance; I looked
this way and that, I gazed upon the heavens over my
40 LIFE AND TIMES OF
head and the earth beneath my feet, and seemed sur-
rounded with God, shut in on every side. I acknowl-
edged my sinfulness, my ignorance, my utter insufficiency ;
I knew that I had ' uttered things too high for me,' and
'things that I understood not.' I concluded, there-
fore, that it was rAxre fitting me to cease disputing, to
humble myself before God, and to supplicate his mercy
as a condemned criminal at his throne, than to contend
about the deep things of religion, to which I was a
stranger. These reflections humbled me in the dust,
and I resolved to trouble myself no more with specula-
tive points of divinity, but rather to seek until I should
find his mercy."
THE METHODISTS JAMES COLEMAN.
"Although I accepted, thus humbly, this pointed
rebuke, I could not yet bring myself willingly to receive
the Methodist doctrines and usages as rightful expo-
sitions of God's word; such influence had early preju-
dices still over my mind, strengthened as they were by
daily reports of the tongue of slander. I supposed that
a people of whom so much evil was said must be under
a fatal delusion. Thus I went on, stumbling over the
truth and warring against my conscience." But this very
people seemed, as we have seen, providentially to beset
him. He now found himself boarding with a family who,
nominally at least, belonged to their communion. " One
night," he continues, " I could not rest. I sat up after
the family had retired. I opened the Bible, and my
eye fell upon those words of Jeremiah, ' But thy life will
I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou go-
est.' They seemed addressed to me, and to foretoken
my destiny. I knelt in prayer, and, committing myself
to God's mercy, found some repose in sleep."
About this time a Methodist itinerant penetrated to
the settlement. James Coleman, a man who, with no
great talents, achieved great usefulness, not only preached
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 41
there, but lodged with the very family where the baffled
inquirer resided.
el ames Coleman was a good example of the heroic
Methodist itinerant ministry of that day. He was born
in Xew Jersey, settled early beyond the Alleghanies, on
the Monongahela, and was there reached and saved, about
the time of the Revolution, by the pioneer preachers of
.Methodism. He entered the ministry, a hardy and zeal-
ous evangelist, about 1791, and went to New England to
help Lee in founding Methodism in the East. A mis-
sionary in spirit, he made his way, in 1794, to Canada,
among the first preachers of the denomination in that
country. On his route to, and in his travels in the prov-
ince, he endured the severest privations. While passing
up the Mohawk River, he was obliged to go on shore fif-
teen nights in succession, and kindle a fire to keep off the
wild beasts ; and his food failing, he was reduced to a
single cracker per day. But such was his zeal that no
privations or difficulties could arrest him, or even dampen
his ardor. Though his abilities were not great, yet such
was the peculiar impression that attended his prayers,
and so entirely was he a man of one aim and of one busi-
ness, that great results attended his labors ; and, say his
brethren, in their Minute obituary, "his crown in heaven
is not without many stars, and some, too, of the first mag-
nitude." "I recall him distinctly," wrote Dr. Bangs,
after many years, " a man of small stature, piercing black
3, an intelligent countenance ; a good devoted man. I
often heard him preach, and was greatly pleased with his
fervent manner. He frequently spoke to me about re-
ligion, though I did not open my heart to him. In his
prayers he would mention me by name, with affectionate
simplicity, which so affected me that I would weep like a
child, and, when I rose from my knees, would seek some
secluded place to hide my emotions. I have indeed great
reason to remember, with gratitude to God, the prayers
and conversations of James Coleman. He was truly a
42 LIFE AND TIMES OF
man of God, and tenderly felt for the salvation of souls.
He soon, however, left the country, to return no more.
After his departure there were no preachers of the Gos-
pel n^ar us, except the poor drunken card-playing minis-
ter of the Church of ^ngland, whom I sometimes heard
mumble over his form of prayer so fast that I could
scarcely understand a word of it, and then read his short
manuscript sermon with the same indifference and haste."
MENTAL STRUGGLES.
The words of the good James Coleman had, however,
sunk into his heart. Some days after the evangelist had
left the settlement, the young teacher walked in the
woods, late at night, mourning over the desolation of his
soul. He had lost the opportunity of revealing his con-
dition to a man who could have solved his perplexities, and
he now endeavored again to find their solution in his owr-
confused and harassed reflections. The moon and star*
shone magnificently upon and through the grand natura)
temple of the primeval forest. Awestruck by the majesty
of God, he felt his own insignificance and sinfulness. He
tried to pray, but could not ; " such a contrast," he says,
" appeared between the holy, tremendous God, and my
unholy, miserable self, that I dared not open my lips in
prayer. I stood in trembling silence and condemnation.
I had no view of the Saviour of sinners. Had I beheld
him as my atoning High Priest, and relied on his merits,
I might have been delivered from my guilt, and have
received ' peace in believing ;' but this blessed vision
was yet hidden from my view, and I only saw God out
of Christ, and he was as a consuming fire."
The true light was approaching, however, and the
morning was at hand. A day or two later, after dis-
missing .his school, he again walked and meditated in
the forest, pondering over the truths he had heard from
the Methodist itinerant. He knelt in prayer, and then
continued his walk, still looking heavenward for light and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 43
comfort. " Suddenly," he says, " I felt ray burden re-
moved. Filled with gratitude for God's long forbear-
ance, I stood and silently adored. It was immediately
suggested to my mind, ' What is this ?' and answered, ' It
is the love of God.' ' Are my sins forgiven?' Something
seemed to answer, ' No.' I rejoiced, however, in God
my Saviour, and a desire to immediately make known
to some one my hopes and fears arose in my heart, but
it was suggested, ' This will not be wise ; you may be
deceived ; and a profession of religion may be followed
with failure and disgrace.' I continued in this state, re-
joicing in the goodness of God, about three days, when,
in consequence of following the suggestion of my fears,
and thereby failing of the sympathies and counsels of ex-
perienced Christians, doubt, darkness, and condemnation
succeeded to the peace and illumination I had received.
Although I was well assured that a great change had
taken place in my wThole moral being, yet I did not believe
that I was fully justified in the sight of God, nor was the
plan of salvation by grace, through faith, fully disclosed to
my mind ; yet I now think that if I had obeyed the voice
of the Spirit by making known my condition to the peo-
ple of God, I should even then have entered into the rest
of faith."
A QUARTERLY LOVE-FEAST.
The light was, however, soon to dawn more fully. The
Methodists were again at hand. "Xot many days after
this," he continues, "information came that two Method-
ist preachers had arrived, and that a Quarterly Meeting
was to be held at Christian Warner's house, near St.
David's. I rejoiced at this news, as I had prayed long
and urgently that God would send some one v. ho could
instruct us 'more perfectly' in his ways, and T was now
determined to divest myself of all prejudice, and receive
with candor the truth, whencesoever it might come to
my troubled soul." At this opportune moment he found
44 LIFE AND TIMES OF
one of his friends in the same state of mind as himself,
and accompanied him to the love-feast — the Agape, de-
rived by Wesley, through the Moravians, from the primi-
tive Church — an occasion which always accompanied the
" Quarterly Meeting."
The two inquirers went, praying that they might find
light and peace. As they approached the house, they
heard singing and prayer from the barn where the as-
sembly was held. " Their hearts were thrilled," and
" filled with solemn awe." The Itinerants present were
Joseph Sawyer and Joseph Jewell, notable men of
that day. At the close of the love-feast, Sawyer stood
up to preach ; young Bangs placed himself in a corner
of the barn, determined to hear as for his life. The
evangelist discoursed on the beatitudes of the Sermon on
the Mount. " In commenting on the passage, ' Blessed
are they that mourn,' etc., he unfolded all the enigmas of
my heart more fully than I could myself. I was power-
fully affected, and wept much. I was fully persuaded
that he was a man of God, and could show me the way
of salvation. When the meeting concluded, Mr. Warner
invited me to dine at his house with the preachers.
Though I was an entire stranger to him and to them, I
gladly assented, for I had an eager desire to converse
with them. On the way I rode in company with Joseph
Sawyer, who commenced a conversation with me on re-
ligion. For the first time in my life I fully disclosed the
struggles of my mind, acknowledging my doubts, my fears,
and my desires. He endeavored in the kindest manner
to instruct and comfort me. At his request I accompa-
nied him to his lodgings, and when I was about to depart
we kneeled down, and he prayed for me that God would
convert my soul, and even commission me to preach the
Gospel. 'What does this mean?' said I to myself; for,
as to preaching, the thought had never entered my
mind."
To save his own soul was his absorbing anxiety ; but
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 45
the itinerant Saw that God had been leading him through
a significant moral training, and that there were in him
the qualities which make mighty men. He instinctively
divined something of the destined career of the young
struggling soul before him. He explained the revelation
of gracious light which had been given him in his medi-
tative walk on the highway — that the consolation he then
received was legitimate, but that his faith had failed. He
exhorted him to go forward ; a clearer light would dawn
upon him, and he would yet receive assurance, " the wit-
ness of the Spirit."
A SISTER'S USEFULNESS.
His brother-in-law moved into the settlement about
this time, and received him as a lodger. His sister was
a devout woman, and had already been instrumental in
the salvation of another brother. John Bangs, on taking
leave of the parental home at Stamford, to go out into the
world, was, he says, " accompanied some distance on the
way by a pious and devoted sister ; when about to part,
she held me by the hand and seemed unwilling to let me
go. I looked into her face and beheld the tears coursing
down from a countenance impressed with sorrow and
anxiety. I could not think what was the matter until
she said, ' My dear brother, remember that if you die in
sins, where God and Christ are you never can go!'
She turned away from me and passed on." This parting
word, he adds, u wounded" his heart; "a thunderbolt"
could not have struck him with more effect. He became
a laborious and successful preacher of Methodism.* This
r was now in the wilderness of Canada, a guide and
iforter of her brother Nathan, before whom the same
career was about to open. They communed together,
brother and sister only can, respecting his spiritual
es and hopes. lie records the consolation he
ceived in these convei ■ •■ i resolved," he adds, " to
Memoir of Rev. John Bansrs. ,
46 LIFE AND TIMES OF
devote myself wholly to the service of God, come what
might." He began practically to do so.
PERSECUTION.
He now daily opened his school with prayer ; but the
innovation raised a storm of opposition. He had been
very highly appreciated by the families of his pupils*,
they now railed against him in the streets. "A robust
Dutchman" so far violated the hospitality of his own
house as to rush upon him, when he entered its door,
with clenched and uplifted fist, exclaiming, " Did you
ever see a man mad? if not, look at me!" Others also
threatened him with personal violence, and the whole
settlement was thrown into agitation. They accused the
Methodists of deluding and infatuating him. He re-
mained calm, but resolute. They at last threatened to
expel him from the neighborhood, and transport him
across the river into the United States. "Finding," he
says, "I could have no peace among them, I called a
4 School-meeting ;'• they voted that I might continue the
school, but should not pray in it. I finally told them
that, as they owed me three months' wages, I would
give them three days in which to pay me, and meanwhile
teach the school, but continue the prayers. I went
around to their houses, collected my bills, heard many
regrets, one family blaming another for the trouble, but
I quietly left them. God, indeed, stood by me in that
hour of trial, and gave me words and arguments which
they could not resist; and, so far from feeling any re-
sentment, I felt the tenderest pity for them and their chil-
dren, and could w*;ep and pray for them."
DOFFS HIS CUE ATsl RUFFLES AND BECOMES A METHODIST.
This trial was a great blessing ; it committed him pub-
licly to religion, and opened the way for his entrance
upon the career of his life as a preacher of the Gospel.
" I had now," he continues, " taken a stand from which
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 47
I could not well recede. I felt much inward peace, and
the Holy Scriptures were indescribably precious to me."
He conformed himself to the severest customs of the
Methodists. Jle had prided himself on his fine personal
appearance, and had dressed in the full fashion of the
times, with ruffled shirt, and long hair in a cue. He now
ordered his laundress to take off his ruffles ; his long
hair shared the Bame fate, not, however, without the re-
monstrances of his pious sister, who deemed this rigor
unnecessary, and admired his young but manly form
with a sisters pride. He was received into the Society
of the Methodists. He had considered them unworthy of
his regard ; he now considered himself unworthy of theirs,
and took his place among them with deep humility.
"When I became acquainted with the 'General Rules,'"
he says, "I was struck with their Scriptural character,
and could not but remark the truth of Mr. Wesley's say-
ing: 'All these, we know, the Spirit of God writes on
truly awakened hearts.' Before I knew these Rules, as
in the Methodist Discipline, or any of the rules of that
Discipline, the Holy Spirit had written most of them on
my heart."
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.
" Having thus united myself with the people of God,
it was now my principal concern to make sure work of
my salvation. Though I had frequent manifestations of
the grace of God, and could occasionally rejoice in him,
I had not yet attained to a clear witness of my accept-
ance with him. The subject of religion engrossed my
attention, and I sought every opportunity to converse
with devout people on my state and prosp
said that they believed me to be already justified, while
ukful for what I" had re-
nd to persevere until I should find a satisfactory
evidence of my acceptance with God. My prayer was
for some mi me physical manifestation of
48 LIFE AND TIMES OF
divine grace. It pleased the Lord to disappoint me in
this respect, as in so many others. After struggling
hard, praying much, reading the Holy Scriptures, fast-
ing, and conversing with religious friends for some days,
he showed to my mind a scene such as I had never fully
seen before. All my past sins seemed pictured upon my
memory ; and the righteous law of God, so pften broken
by me, shone in overwhelming splendor before me ; I
saw and acknowledged the justice of my condemnation.
Christ was then exhibited to my mind as having 'fulfilled
the law and made it honorable,' ' bearing my sins in his
own body on the tree ;' so that I, receiving him by faith,
need not bear them any longer myself. This view hum-
bled me to the dust. At the same time I felt a gracious
power to rely upon his atoning merits by simple faith.
Instantly I felt that my sins were canceled for Christ's
sake, and the Spirit of God bore witness with mine that
I was adopted into the family of His people. My
mind wTas filled with awe and reverence. The wisdom,
power, and goodness of God iti devising such a scheme
for the recovery of fallen man struck me with astonish-
ment. With an ecstasy of holy joy did I lay hold upon
the cross of the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. All boasting
was excluded, except of the matchless love of God, who
sent his Son to die for the world, that ' whosoever belie veth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' This
view of the plan of redemption and salvation was as
clear to me at that time as it has been at any time since,
though not by any means so comprehensively defined
in my mind as in my later experience and studies. It
has since been enlarged, and made to appear more and
more exact, symmetrical, and beautiful in all its parts.
Here let me record my grateful, adoring sense of the
loving-kindness of my God in watching so providentially
over my infant days, in leading me through the perilous
intricacies of youth up to manhood, bearing with my
sinfulness, .conducting me to a strange land, where he
NATHAN BAXfiS. D.D. 49
directed my steps among his people, opening the path of
life and peace to my troubled soul, and receiving me at
last, by adoption, into the household of his saints. I
was now. August, 1800, in the twenty-second year of
my age, having been twenty-one on the 2d of May
preceding I
Thus was the momentous work wrought, the regener-
ation of this struggling soul. Thus had he at last and
forever turned his brow heavenward, whence fell upon
it a light which was to " shine brighter and brighter
even unto the perfect day." Henceforth, for more than
threescore years, he will maintain his unaverted gaze
toward that divine height, till at last he is caught up to
it, away from our sight, as if sharing in the ascension, as
he had shared in the redemption of his Lord.
4
5^ LIFE AND TIMES OF
CH AFTER IV.
NEW SCENES AND STUDIES.
It seemed now that he had to begin life anew. He had
been thrust out from his occupation and his home;
but this trial, as has been said, was providential ; it was
to hasten him into the appointed career of his public life.
" When my old friends cast me off," he writes, " the
Lord raised me up new and better ones." Before he
left the settlement he bore a faithful testimony for his
God. " The divine love burned in my heart," he adds,
"and I felt compelled to warn all around me to flee
from the wrath to come. I went from house to house
declaring what God had done for my soul, exhorting
the people to seek his mercy, and praying with those
who would permit me. Some mocked, some wept, and
a few received the word with joy. No sooner was I
brought from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan unto God, than I was led to embrace the doctrines
and usages of Methodism, with all my heart, as far as I
understood them. Being about three hundred miles
from my father's house, I wrote him an account of the
change wrought in my views and life. In answering me
he expressed thankfulness that I had given my attention
to religion, but thought I had gone too far in assuming
a knowledge of my personal salvation, as knowledge
supersedes the necessity of faith. I wrote him a reply,
in which, though the sentiments were true, I believe my
zeal led me to express myself too positively, and not
with that respectful deference which befits a child ad-
dressing a father. I would also observe that, during
the previous struggles of my soul, few things gave me
NATHAN" BANGS, D.D. 51
keener sorrow than remembered acts of disobedience to
my parents, and I could not rest till I made them a
humble acknowledgment and begged their pardon, which
they affectionately accorded me."
He obtained another school, in a Methodist neighbor-
hood, where he found congenial society and providen-
tial aids in his new life. " Before I became acquainted
with the Methodists," he says, "my theological reading
had been confined mostly to Calvinistic authors ; but now
I began to read the writings of John Wesley and John
Fletcher. I thereby became acquainted with those emi-
nent men of God, and now truth shone more fully upon
my understanding. Some portions of Mr. Wesley's
Journals fell into my hands, and gave me a knowledge
of the manner in which God had led him on, step by
step, in the great work to which his life was devoted.
I thanked God for raising up such a man to be a means
of light and reformation in the modern Church. Simul-
taneously with my ctnversion it was impressed upon my
mind that it was my duty to warn sinners of their dan-
ger. It seemed as if I had been awakened from a pro-
found sleep, and I thought I could see others in the
same dangerous condition. I felt an unappeasable de-
sire to apprise them of their danger, and induce them
to escape it by repentance toward God and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. For such an important task I felt
quite inadequate. Sometimes I feared that this impression
of what seemed an impossible duty was a temptation of
the adversary to induce me to exhibit my weakness, and
thereby bring reproach on the cause of God ; and such
was my natural timidity, that whenever I attempted to
;. in public I trembled like a leaf, and I concluded
that if I attempted to speak in public I never could suc-
•l. The impression that I must sooner or later preach
• r me, however, by night and by day; and frequently,
while walking in the : of Soriptnre would be
presented to my mind, and their meaning unfolded ;
52 LIFE AND TIMES OF
I found myself following out the train of their truth with
all my soul, while my heart burned within me with a
divine fervor.
JOSEPH SAWYER CHRISTIAN WARNER.
"Joseph Sawyer, who received me into the Church and
who had become as a father to me, frequently urged me
to use what he called my 'gift' in public. Although I
consented to lead a class, a few miles distant from my
home, such was my timidity that the attempt was an
entire failure. This induced me to doubt my capacity
for any such public labors, and I hastily concluded that
I would try no more.
"Soon after this failure I removed my lodgings to
another place, and boarded with Christian Warner, my
class-leader, a man of sweet spirit, and for whom I shall
ever entertain an ardent affection. He was a pattern of
religion, always consistent in his conduct, and acted the
part of a parent toward me. Such was my diffidence
that I gave up my judgment almost entirely to others
wrhom I esteemed on account of their experience and
piety. I found Christian Warner worthy of my utmost
confidence, and he became my counselor and guide in
this critical period of my Christian life."
THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION.
The doctrine of sanctification, as taught by Paul and
expounded by Wesley and Fletcher, was a favorite
theme in the conversations of his new associates, espe-
cially of Christian Warner. Wesley attached supreme
importance to this doctrine. While yet at Oxford he
became convinced that the Mystics, with all their errors,
had apprehended in it a great truth of Christianity.
The Sketch of a Perfect Christian, by Clemens Alexan-
drinus, excited his ardent aspirations. Bishop Taylor
had irradiated that ideal of religious character by his
rare eloquence. William Law had written ably upon it.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 53
Thomas a Kempis and other Catholic saints had tanght
and exemplified it. Fenelon had been an illustrious ex-
ample of it, in both liis writings and life. Wesley trans-
lated the life of Fenelon's friend, Madam Guyon, and
gave it to his people as a practical demonstration of the
great truth, lie also published in his Christian Library
tin- essay of Dr. Lucas on Religious Perfection,* as pre-
senting generally the Scriptural view of the subject.
The Scriptural phrases u sanctification," "perfection,"
" perfect love," would, independently of these author-
ities, have suggested to him a pre-eminent standard of
spiritual life; but these writers had given a specific and
even technical character to the words. Their opinions,
glowing with the very sanctity of the Gospel, and
aspiring to what most men deemed an altogether preter-
human virtue, have been rendered familiar to the Meth-
odist itinerants throughout England, and later through-
out the world, in the writings of Law, Fletcher, and
Wesley. Every one of them, at his reception into the
traveling ministry, avows his belief in the doctrine, and
that he is w' groaning after," if he has not already
attained, this exalted grace. Perhaps no single fact
affords a better explanation of the marvelous success of
Methodism. Wes] \ ed and declared that wher-
ever the doctrine was preached revivals usually prevailed.
"It is," he said, "the grand depositum which God has
given to the people called Methodists ; and chiefly to prop-
: his, it appears, God raised them up. Their mission
ot to form a religious party, but to spread holiness
over these lands." The doctrine of personal sanctifica-
tion was, in fine it potential idea of Methodism.
It not only _ life and energy, by inspiring its eon-
tions with devout and transforming aspirations,
but it was the | ntinient Deeded as the basifi of
its ministry. Nothing short of entire Belf-sacrifice could
* The third part of u An Inquiry after Happiness," by 1>t
Pret-
54 LIFE AND TIMES OF
consist with the duties and privations of that ministry ;
and, according to their doctrine of perfection, entire con-
secration was the preliminary of entire sanctiflcation.
These holy men, then, in making an entire public sacri-
fice of themselves, did so as a part of an entire conse-
cration to God, for the purpose of their own entire
personal sanctiflcation, as well as their usefulness to
others. What ideal of ministerial character and devo-
tion could be more sublime or more effective? And this
ideal they realized in the exceeding labors and purity
of their lives, and the martyr-like triumphs of their
deaths.
Wesley defined this Scriptural truth more clearly than
any other modern writer. Evangelical theologians can-
not deny his definition of the doctrine. They can dis-
sent from him only in respect to the time in which entire
sanctiflcation may be practically reached by the believer.
All admit it as at least an ideal, yet Scriptural standard
of spiritual life, to be habitually aspired to by good men,
though attained, with rare exceptions, only at death.
Wesley claimed it as, like justification, an attainment of
faith, and practicable at any moment.* It is the puri-
fication of the believer subsequent to regeneration. It
is usually gradual; it maybe instantaneous, as, like just-
* Alexander Knox, Esq., the friend and correspondent of Bishop
Jebb, says, (Thirty Years' Correspondence with Bishop Jebb, Letter
XIX,) " Nay, the very point you aim at in them, I mean their view of
Christian Perfection, is in my mind so essentially right and important
that it is on this account particularly I value them above other denom-
inations of the sort. I am aware that ignorant individuals expose what
is in itself true by their unfounded pretensions and irrational descrip-
tions ; but with the sincerest disapproval of every such excess, I do
esteem John Wesley's stand for holiness to be that which does immor-
tal honor to his name. . . . In John Wesley's views of Christian Perfec-
tion are combined, in substance, all the sublime morality of the Greek
fathers, the spirituality of the Mystics, and the divine philosophy of
our favorite Platonists. Macarius, Fenelon, Lucas, and all of their
respective classes, have been consulted and digested by him, and his
ideas are essentially theirs." See also Knox's Essay on Wesley's
Character, addressed to Southey. Appendix to Southey's Wesley.
55
ification, it is received by faith. "When we begin to
believe, " Wesley said in his Minutes of Conference,
M then sanctitication begins ; and as faith increases holi-
ness increases." But this experience, he taught, should
be sought immediately; and as it is obtained by faith,
it is the privilege of all believers at anytime. He called
it "perfection," a name which has incurred no little
animadversion, but which he used as Scriptural, and as
having been so used by Law, Lucas, Macarius, Fenelon,
and other writers, Protestant and Papal.
Wesley's statement of the doctrine, in its right analy-
sis, agrees with the highest standards of the theological
world. He differed from them only in his clearer and
more urgent promulgation of the great truth ; in mak-
ing it an exoteric rather than an esoteric opinion ; in
declaring that what other theologians taught as a pos-
sibility, the rare enjoyment of some, is the privilege of
all. Fletcher has given us a remarkable essay on the
doctrine, proving it to be Scriptural, and in accordance
with the theological teachings of the best divines.*
Wesley wrote an elaborate treatise upon it.f He taught
not absolute or Adamic, but Christian Perfection. Per-
fect Christians " are not," he says, "free from ignorance,
no, nor from mistake. We are no more to expect any
man to be infallible than to be omniscient. . . . From
infirmities none are perfectly freed till their spirits
return to God ; neither can we expect, till then, to be
wholly freed from temptation; for 'the servant is not
above his Master.' But neither in this sense is there
any absolute perfection on earth. There is no perfection
of degrees, none which does not admit of a continual
To one of his correspondents he says, " The proposi-
whicfa I will hold is this: 'Any person may be
cleansed from all sinful tempers, and yel need the aton-
* L . Antinomi :. ii.
56 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ing blood.' For what? For 'negligences and igno-
rances ; ' for both words and actions, (as well as omis-
sions,) which are, in a sense, transgressions of the per-
fect law. And I believe no one is clear of these till he
lays down this corruptible body."* Perfection, as de-
fined by Wesley, is not then perfection according to the
absolute moral law ; it, is what he calls it, Christian
Perfection; perfection according to the new moral econ-
omy introduced by the atonement, in which the heart
being sanctified, fulfills the law by love, (Rom. xii, 8,
10,) and its involuntary imperfections are provided for,
by that economy, without the imputation of guilt, as
in the case of infancy and all irresponsible persons. The
only question, then, can be, Is it possible for good men
so to love God that all their conduct, inward and out-
ward, shall be swayed by love ? that even their invol-
untary defects shall be swayed by it ? Is there such a
thing as the inspired writer calls the " perfect love "
which " casteth out fear ? " (1 John iv, 18.) Wesley
believed that there is ; that it is the privilege of all
saints ; and that it is to be received by faith.
In a letter to one of his female correspondents he
says : " I want you to be all love. This is the perfec-
tion I believe and teach ; and this perfection is consist-
ent with a thousand nervous disorders, which that high
strained perfection is not. Indeed, my judgment is, that
(in this case particularly) to overdo is to undo ; and that
to set perfection too high, is the most effectual way of
driving it out of the world." When he thus explained
his opinion to Bishop Gibson, the prelate replied: " Why,
Mr. Wesley, if this is what you mean by perfection, who
can be against it ?" " Man," he says, " in his present
state, can no more attain Adamic than angelic perfection.
The perfection of which man is capable, while he dwells
in a corruptible body, is the complying with that kind
command: 'My son, give me thy heart!' It is the
* Letter 190, Works, vol. vi.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 57
loving the Lord his God, with all his heart, and with all
il, and with all his mind." Such is his much mis-
sented doctrine of Christian Perfection.*
EXPERIENCE OF SAXCTIFICATIOX.
A mind so profoundly imbued with religious earnest-
a thai of young Bangs, could not fail to seize on a
truth like this. "From reading the Holy Scriptures," he
writes, "Mr. Wesley's 'Plain Account of Christian Per-
fection,' and Mr. Fletcher's writings on the subject, I
clearly saw the necessity of a deeper piety than I had yet
attained; of being sanctified throughout, soul, body, and
spirit. As I went on in observance of God's commands,
divine light shone more brightly upon my understanding,
disclosing to me the remaining impurities of my nature.
This gave me a more and more acute sense of my native
depravity than I had ever had, so much so, that doubts
were sometimes excited in my inexperienced mind
whether I had indeed been justified. And yet on mature
reflection I could not question the reality of the change
which the Spirit of God had wrought in my heart, for I
felt no condemnation for past sins, and I was often blessed
with great peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. My expe-
rience verified St. Paul's description of the justified man:
'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.' My conscience also was extreme-
ly tender, so that I could not neglect any known duty,
as fasting, secret prayer, social or public worship in class-
meetings or the congregation, or exhorting others to flee
the wrath to come, in doing which J enjoyed much in-
ward comfort, and rejoiced in hope of the glory of
But notwithstanding all this, I felt such an exquisite
of moral defect that T was led, like Job, to abhor
myself as in dust and asl-os. There was, however, a
difference between my present distress and my former
* History of the Religious Movement of the Eighteenth Century,
called Methodism, etc., vol. i. 405; vol. ii. 411.
58 LIFE AND TIMES OF
sense of condemnation. Formerly I was condemned as
a guilty sinner, and hardly dared to look up to God for
mercy ; now I felt reconciled to him, could pray in faith,
and enjoyed peace, while a sweet compunction weighed me
down at the footstool of divine mercy. I hated sin with
a perfect hatred, and consequently felt an utter aversion
to all its pleasures. Such confidence had I in the Chris-
tian purity and influence of Mr. Warner, who professed
the blessing of sanctification, and, I doubt not, enjoyed
it, that I loved his very presence, and in prayer-meetings
I wished to kneel close by his side.
" In this temper I went struggling on for some time,
until, on the 6th of February, 1801, being that evening
on a visit to a pious family with some Christian friends,
we conversed till quite late on religious subjects, and
then prayed, as was the Methodist custom ; for Method-
ists in that day seldom parted from even their casual
interviews without prayer. When we knelt, I felt an
unusually earnest spirit of devotion. Mr. Warner first
prayed, and, without rising, called upon me to pray.
When I commenced, my emotions deepened, my desire
for a pure heart became intense, and my faith grew
stronger and stronger. My supplications were import-
unate, so that I know not how long I continued to pray.
When I ceased, I sank down into an inexpressible calm-
ness, as lying passive at the feet of God. I felt relieved
and comforted, as though I had been 'cleansed from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit.' I had no extraordinary
rapture, no more than I had often experienced before, but
such a sense of my own littleness that I thought, 'What
a wonder is it that God condescends to notice me at all !'
All my inward distress was gone. I could look up with
a childlike composure and trust, and behold God as my
heavenly Father.
" We staid all night, and the next morning in family
prayer I seemed surrounded with the divine glory. I
certainly was filled at that time with the 'perfect love
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 59
which eastern out fear,' for I had no fear of death or
judgment. I could trust all things to my merciful God,
through my infinitely sufficient Redeemer. Such a sense
of God's ineffable goodness pervaded my soul, that I
seemed to sink, confounded by Ins very love, into noth-
ingness before him. I felt that I was the least of all
saints, but had an evidence bright as the noonday sun
that all my sins were taken away, and that without fear
I could depart and be with Christ at any moment he
should see fit to call me.
"I here simply relate the facts as they occurred.
The change in my nature was as evident to me as had
been my justification. Whatever name others may
attach to this gracious experience, I believe I was then
sanctified by the Spirit of God mercifully given unto
me.
CALL TO PREACH.
" Having been made a partaker of this great bless-
ing, the thought that I must preach the Gospel recur-
red to my conscience with increased force ; but being
more deeply sensible than ever of my deficiency in the
qualifications requisite for so responsible a work, I dared
not yet to yield to the impression, though it followed
me by day and by night. Nor did I open my mind to
any one respecting it, lest it might be imputed to vanity
or pride. I prayed much that God would show me
plainly my duty. One day, as I was walking the road,
in deep meditation upon this subject, a sudden ray of
divine illumination struck my mind like a flash of light-
ning, accompanied with the words, 'I have aim;;
thee to preach ti ok to the ground, and
! out, ; Here am 1 .
Sublime culmination ofaheroic soul! a soul overcom-
the world, and — still greater achievement — overcom-
ing itself; struggling through years of internal combat;
laying hold, in the American desert, upon the highest
60 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ideal of moral character taught by the saints of the elder
world ; and listening for a voice from the higher world
to summon him to live and die an apostle of divine truth !
To one class of minds this record of moral conflict and
triumph will present only the history of a morbid tem-
perament. Another will accept it as an example of the
divine regeneration of a human soul. From all candid
minds, however predisposed to rationalistic solutions of
its problems, its examples of a struggling conscience,
of devout aspirations, of self-denial, and of final and life-
long consecration, will command not only respect, but
reverence.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 61
CHAPTER V.
THE ITINERANT MINISTRY.
He was now to enter the humble ministry of Method-
ism, that itinerant host of evangelists which Wesley
had organized and extended throughout the Anglo-Saxon
world, and which, for its heroic character and extraordi-
nary labors, sufferings, and successes, has been called
the legio tonans of modern Protestantism. He had
heard marvelous stories about it from the time that Lee
arrived in his native state ; had read in the writings of
Wesley, and other publications, with admiring wonder,
of its almost military discipline, its hardships and tri-
umphs. He had seen it exemplified in the persons of its
Canadian pioneers, Coleman, Jewell, and Sawyer, who
had penetrated to the remote settlements whither he had
wandered.
It presented romantic attractions to his fervid spirit,
notwithstanding its extreme privations and toils. He
: dreamed about it. John Wesley seemed yet its great
apostle, calling him in the night-watches to its invincible
ranks. On a mountain height he saw the mighty evan-
ing with great velocity in a chariot of light,
throwing out to him a shining sword and crying, ' Take
this and conquer !' " " I awoke," he writes, " and behold
it was a dream, but one of thrilling suggestions."
HKIMKVT IX PREACHING.
i»h Sawyer returned, again and again, to the settle-
ment in his rapid ministerial tours, and now became his
providential guide. Joseph Sawyer was a distinguished
preacher of that day, a Boanerges in the desert, lie
62 LIFE AND TIMES OF
saw in the youthful convert the qualities requisite for
the itinerant ministry of the times. He admitted no
delay ; for there were then no better means of qualifica-
tion for the Methodist ministry than its practical work,
and the moral destitution of the country required imme-
diately all possible labor. The young disciple yielded
to his urgency. " Strongly pressed," he says, " by Mr.
Sawyer, whose fatherly care for me I shall never forget,
I consented to make a trial in a little society about fifteen
miles from my home. I went on Saturday ; I was up
early on Sunday morning and earnestly prayed for divine
aid. My mind was sorely oppressed, and in family
prayer I was much bound in spirit, and wished I had not
undertaken the task. The principal part of the time,
after rising from my bed till the hour appointed for the
meeting, I spent upon my knees. I felt burdened with
an insupportable load, and my mind was shrouded in
darkness. I finally besought God that, if he had called
me to preach, he would be pleased to .open my mouth
and bless me and the people with the consolation of his
spirit; but, if he had not called me, he would shut my
mouth, and I would return home and try no more. Aft-
er coming to this conclusion I was tranquil, and waited
the result with resignation. The people assembled, and,
after singing and prayer, I no sooner opened my mouth
than the Lord filled it with words and arguments ; the
Scriptures seemed like a fruitful field before me. The
word of God was like fire in my bones, and its utterance
was attended with the 'Holy Ghost and with power.' I
felt as if I were in the very suburbs of the heavenly
Jerusalem, and the people of God were refreshed as
with new wine. The Lord indeed answered ' as by fire
from heaven.'
ANOTHER EXPERIMENT.
" I then thought I could never again doubt my call
to the ministry; but, alas for the unbelief of the human
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 63
heart ! ' except ye see signs and wonders ye will not
believe! ' Soon after this time I had an appointment in
the neighborhood of my sister's residence. I was much
perplexed for a text, and could find none that suited me.
I finally concluded to abandon the thought of preaching
and meet the people, sing, pray, exhort, and send them
home. I went to the meeting with this determination.
After rising from my knees I took up my little Bible,
opened it, and the first words I saw I read, and the first
thoughts that came to my mind I spoke, and thus I
went on through a sermon; I doubt whether I have
ever had greater liberty in preaching from that day to
this ; I was at no loss for ideas or words. I preached
about three quarters of an hour. The text was, 'But
when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among
themselves, saying, This is the heir : come, let us kill him,
that the inheritance maybe ours.' Lukexx, 14. I have
never preached on them since, nor do I remember how
I then treated them. They were given to me, I believe,
for the occasion, for the people appeared as if thunder-
struck, and the effect was remarkable." He does not,
however, record this fact as an example for others ;
thus used it would be abused ; he considered it as a gra-
cious and special condescension of God to his peculiar
weakness.
SUCCESS AXD DEFEAT.
yer now determined to initiate him into the*
"itinerancy" by taking him around the circuit. "At
the first appointment he said I must exhort after he
had preached, a customary thing in that day among
Methodists. I sat trembling during the sermon, for, in
addition to the consciousness of my inadequacy for the
ministerial work, my natural timidity was bo extreme
that it almost unfitted me for any public When
I rose to follow him I shook in every limb, my lips
stiffened, and I could hardly speak ; but soon they were
64 LIFE AND TIMES OF
loosed, and the power of the Spirit descended on the
assembly in such a manner that • some sobbed aloud,
some praised God audibly, and others fell to the floor as
if shot dead. I felt unusually comforted and encouraged ;
but the adversary took advantage of my inexperience by
suggesting to my mind, 'See what you have done.
You have excelled even the preacher !' I said, ' Get thee
behind me, Satan ! It is not I that do these things, but
the grace of God that dwelleth in me !' The tempta-
tion, however, pursued me all the rest of that day and
the following, until we reached the next appointment,
where the Lord humbled me by showing me my own
weakness. There, when I rose to exhort, my mind was
barren ; I could only stammer out a few words, and at
last sat down, utterly confounded and mortified. What
a merciful God have we to deal with ! This mortifica-
tion was one of his greatest blessings to me ; it taught
me a necessary lesson which has never been forgotten.
" On the fifth day of our tour I consented Ho try to
preach. I took for my text the words, * One thing I
know, that whereas I was once blind, now I see.' I
went blundering on, as I thought, from beginning to
end, though Mr. Sawyer said I preached a good sermon.
Among other blunders I made a very palpable miscita-
tion or misapplication of a passage from Milton. I im-
mediately perceived my mistake, but could find no ready
way of correcting it. I tried hard, but only made it
. worse. I sank into the quagmire of my confusion, and
sat down, covered with humiliation and shame. No
sooner was the meeting concluded than I set off, pro-
foundly chagrined, to get my horse. The preacher, sus-
pecting my purpose, hastened toward me and asked me
where I was going. 'For my horse,' I replied, 'and
then for home, as I have disgraced the cause of my
<§k>d and killed the Church here !' The good man com-
forted me, and persuaded me to relinquish my design.
I wept bitterly over my infirmities. We kept on around
NATHAN BANGS, B.D. 6£
the circuit. I tried to preach several times, and again
had good success. Tims was I trained, experimentally;
it was the only ministerial preparation practicable to one
under my circumstances." They ended the journey at
an "old-fashioned" quarterly meeting at Lyon's Creek."
He had been "broken in," rudely enough, so far as his
feelings were concerned, but with salutary lessons, which
were to be serviceable through all the rest of his life.
BECOMES AN ITINERANT.
In the month of August, 1801, about one year after
he had joined the Church, and three months after he
had been licensed as an exhorter, he received license to
preach, and immediately departed for a circuit. Having
earned some money as a surveyor, in addition to his
salary as teacher, he was able to purchase an outfit of
clothing, and a horse and its furniture, not forgetting
the indispensable saddle-bags of the "itinerant." "I
sold," he says, "my surveyor's instruments to a friend
whom I had taught the art, mounted my horse and rode
forth to 'sound the alarm' in the wilderness, taking no
further thought ' what I should eat, or drink, or where-
withal I should be clothed.'" He had now learned to
trust the divine guidance unfalteringly, for God "had
found him in a desert laud, and in the waste, howling
wilderness; he had led him about; had instructed him;
had kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle
Btirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth
abroad her wings, taketli them, beareth them on her
wings, so the Lord alone did lead him."
66 LIFE AND TIMES OE
CHAPTEK VI.
METHODISM — ITS ORIGIN.
Early in the eighteenth century, Voltaire predicted
that in the next generation Christianity would be over-
thrown throughout the civilized world. At the moment
of this audacious prophecy, a band of devout students of
Oxford University were laying, in penitence, prayer, and
divine studies, the foundations of Methodism, and uncon-
sciously preparing to initiate a new era in ecclesiastical
history. The next generation was to witness, not the
decadence of Christianity, but its greatest resuscitation
since the age of Luther. The press upon which the
works of Voltaire were printed, in Geneva, was des-
tined to be used in the multiplication of the Holy Scrip-
tures. John Wesley, the greatest of modern ecclesi-
astical legislators; Charles Wesley, whose psalmody was
to become the liturgy of Methodism, and, in our day,
reverberate along the outlines of the world ; George
Whitefield, perhaps the most eloquent preacher of all the
Christian ages, and whose voice was to resound not only
through the British isles, but through the Anglican col-
onies of North America ; were living, though unknown,
when Voltaire uttered his prediction. They became the
chief members of the " Holy Club " of Oxford, the first
" Methodists."
CHARACTERISTIC FACTS.
It was a providential fact that Methodism began its
march from within the gates of Oxford. It was to gather
the common people, by hundreds of thousands, around
its standard, and their education was to be one of its
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 67
chief responsibilities ; its University prestige was to
oounteract vulgar prejudices against learning, and pre-
dispose it in favor of educational institutions. Wesley-
early established schools' and academies for his people.
At his first "Conference" he proposed a Theological
Seminary for the training of his preachers. His followers
have provided, in England, the most effective, in America,
the most extensive series of learned institutions possessed
by any Protestant body in the world, not recognized as a
State Church.
The chief distinction, however, of the Methodist found-
ers was that, though students of theological science, and
all of them churchmen, they bravely broke away from
dogmatic prejudices and ecclesiastical traditions ; they
discovered as by a divine illumination the paramount,
the supreme importance of the spiritual life of Chris-
tianity. They went forth to revive this life in the land ;
to proclaim anew, and almost exclusively, the radical
doctrines which are essential to it: the sinfulness of man,
repentance, justification, regeneration, sanctification, the
indwelling and witness of the Spirit of God in the human
soul ; and the visible proofs of this divine life,.in the com-
munion of saints and in all good words and works. Dog-
matic controversies sometimes intervened, but they were
transient, and hastily set aside for the one great purpose
of "spreading holiness over these lands," as Wesley per-
sistently profee
This, in fine, is the true historical standpoint of Meth-
odism. Its practice 1 system, or "discipline," was rigor-
ously conformed to this supreme purpose. Wesley did
not devise hi n; he adopted it, as, from time to
time, its principal facts wore evolved in the "move-
ment;" that is to say, providentially suggested, as he be-
lieved. He long hoped tliat the Establishment, to which
he was loyally attached, would be spiritually reformed,
and it- 1 his colaborers. He was disappoint-
ed; he was excluded from its pulpits, and had to preach
68 LIFE AND TIMES OF
on the highways and in the market-places. His societies,
springing up in all the country, and composed mostly of
the poor, rescued from gross vice and degradation, needed
instructors ; he appointed some of his most capable lay-
men to read to them the Scriptures, and conduct their
devotions in his absence, while he, night and day, trav-
ersed the land. One of these laymen, Thomas Maxwell,
ventured sometimes to explain and apply his Scripture
readings ; the Countess of Huntingdon heard him, and
encouraged him to "preach." Susannah Wesley, a chief
counselor of her son for many years, admonished him not
to oppose this innovation ; to her, it appeared a provi-
dential indication of the only means which could meet the
necessity of his Societies, now not only neglected by the
national clergy, but repelled from their sacramental altars.
Wesley had been a rigid churchman ; he hesitated, and
argued against this startling " irregularity ;" but he was
at last compelled to yield to the providential necessity,
and thus arose that mighty lay ministry of Methodism
whose voice has since been heard in most of the ends of
the earth. The dignified reticence, the fastidious tradi-
tional prejudice, of the national clergy, thus led to the
uprising of a ministerial host which has equaled them
in pulpit talent, at least ; overmatched them in influence
among the people ; surpassed them in appreciable useful-
ness, and led the way, the vanguard of Christian propa-
gandism, before them in most of the foreign world.
ITS LAY MINISTRY.
The lay ministry is not only one of the greatest facts of
Methodism ; it is one of the grandest facts of modern ec-
clesiastical history. It was specially a provision for the
New World. The era of transatlantic emigration was at
hand. New states, as large as important European king-
doms, were about to spring up, as by magic, in the vast
wildernesses of North America. A population, chiefly
Anglo-Saxon, was to commence a sublime inarch, in a line
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 69
extending from the Gulf of Mexico to beyond the great
northern lakes, at an average westward advancement of
fourteen miles a year, felling the primeval forests, open-
ing highways, constructing canals and railroads, found-
ing villages, towns, and cities, erecting schools, colleges,
court-houses, and churches. The human race had never
witnessed a scene of equal moral or political magnificence,
i >nt how could the customary tardy methods of ministe-
rial training provide for the religious wants of this over-
whelming population, rolling in upon the desert like
billows of the rising tide upon the strand of the ocean ?
The great domains of the West must have been covered
with immorality and barbarism, had no more immediate,
no extemporary provision met this moral exigency. Prov-
identially, the Methodistic "movement" began early
enough to meet it ; and the Methodist itinerant lay min-
istry actually kid the moral foundations of many of the
mightiest states of the continent. Methodism became
numerically the dominant faith of the country.
METHODISM IN AMEKICA.
Whitefield extended the movement to the New "World.
Jonathan Edwards had prepared the way for him. White-
field crossed the Atlantic thirteen times. He traversed
the colonies from Georgia to Maine, awakening them as
by the trumpet of the resurrection.* Before he descend-
ed into his American grave, Wesley's itinerants were on
his track.
For more than half a century, John Wesley, in his
ministerial travels, seemed ubiquitous throughout the
United Kingdom. lie crossed the Irish Channel forty-
two times, making twenty-one visits to Ireland, and
:iding there about six years of hifl indefatigable life.
In one of these visits, in 1758, lie wae surprised by the
* For an account of the extent and results of Whitefield'a labors in
America, »ee " The History of the Religions Movement of the Eighteenth
Century, called Methodism," vol. i, passim, but particularly the last
cha] •
70 LIFE AND TIMES OF
discovery, in the midst of the native Celtic population,
of a Teutonic settlement at Court Mattress and the neigh-
boring villages of Killiheen, Ballygarrane, and Pallas.
Whence came these people ? They were descendants of
Germans who had been expatriated by a terrible war
from the Palatinate, on the Rhine. Having no pastors
who could speak their own language, they had been half
a century without religious instruction, and had sunk into
incredible degradation. Drunkenness, profanity, Sabbath-
breaking, had become almost universal among them.
Wesley's itinerants had penetrated their settlements,
and preached in their streets. They had been reclaimed,
had built chapels for their families, and the great evan-
gelist declared that " three such towns as Court Mat-
tress, Killiheen, and Ballygarrane could hardly be found
elsewhere in Ireland or England." There was " no
profanity, no Sabbath-breaking, no drunkenness, no ale-
house, in any of them." Their " diligence had turned
all their land into a garden." One of their young men,
with whom Wesley became acquainted, was afterward
licensed as a local preacher.
In 1760 lay in a harbor of Ireland a ship whose decks
were thronged with emigrants for America, one of whom
stood at the bulwarks, taking leave in a religious dis-
course of a crowd of friends and spectators on the wharf.
The passengers were " Palatine " Methodists, and the
speaker was their young local preacher, Philip Embury.
They settled in New York. Philip Embury became the
recognized founder of Methodism in the United States.
He preached at first in his own house, and formed there
the first American Methodist society. Two years later
he dedicated the first Methodist chapel on the continent.
ASBTJRT.
Wesley sent them two preachers from his English
Conference of 1769 ; at the session of 1771 he announced
that " the brethren in America still call aloud for help ; who
D.D. 71
is willing to go?" Five responded, and two were sent.
One of these was a young man who had formed himself
by the severest ministerial regimen of Methodism ; a man
of vigorous frame, of few words, of quick and accurate
insight, and of profound humility, not unmixed with
occasional melancholy ; a tireless traveler, an incessant
preacher, a rigorous disciplinarian, but exemplifying him-
self all the severity he enjoined upon others. His soul
was essentially heroic ; he saw in the opening new world
a field where he might labor and suffer for the Gospel,
in a manner befitting his apostolic aspirations. He was
not long in that field before his brethren spontaneously
turned toward him as their providential leader. At the
formal organization of American Methodism, as an in-
dependent Church, in 1784, he was, at the instance of
Wesley, elected by his fellow-laborers their bishop.
His ordination was the first Protestant consecration to
the episcopal office in the new world.* For forty-five
years he was now to traverse the country, mostly on
horseback, from north to south, from east to west, fol-
lowing the trails of the Indians, convoyed sometimes by
armed men, fording rivers, sleeping often on the ground,
preaching daily, and leading on the hosts of his people
and preachers with the authority and ability of a great
captain. At his ordination they comprised less than
fifteen thousand communicants, and about eighty preach-
er- ; lie was to fall at last at the head of two hundred
and eleven thousand communicants, and seven hundred
traveling preachers. His ministerial travels wTere to
exceed those of Wesley himself, being about six thou-
sand miles a year ; equal to the circumference of the globe
every four years. During the forty-five years of his
American ministry lie was to average at least one ser-
i a day, to preside in two hundred and twenty-four
annual conferences, and ordain more than four thousand
* Unless some of the small Moravian communities of America had
previously ordained bishops.
72 LIFE AND TIMES OF
preachers. He was to continue to travel and preach till
his tottering frame had to be aided up the pulpit stairs ;
till he could no longer stand, but had to sit while ad-
dressing the wondering throngs that hung upon his
words. Such was Francis Asbury, bishop of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, by the imposition of whose
hands Nathan Bangs was to be ordained to the Christian
ministry. The authority of no man since the apostolic
age could more legitimately consecrate the young preach-
er to his high office.
GREAT SUCCESS CANADA.
With such a man at the head of the new denomina-
tion, it could not fail of success ; it broke out on the
right and on the left ; scores, hundreds of " itinerants,"
many of them the " giants of those days," entered its
militant ministry. The example of their episcopal leader
vindicated the severity of their work and their sufferings,
and rendered both heroic. They courageously went
wherever he sent them, and the post of most danger
or hardship was the post of most honor. By the pres-
ent period of our narrative, 1801, they were traveling as
far south as Georgia, as far north as Canada, as far east
as Maine, and as far west as the Mississippi. The " old
Western Conference" was already organized, the only
conference then beyond the Alleghanies ; it was soon to
extend from Detroit to Natchez ; the great frontier battle-
ground of Methodism, where Cartwright, Finley, Young,
Blakeman, Winans, Larkin, Quinn, and other giant men,
now. or soon after, bore forward the cross in the van of
emigration, traveling vast circuits, on some parts of
which they had to be protected from the savages by
armed escorts. The denomination reported now more
than severity thousand communicants and more than
three hundred preachers. Canada was already a Meth-
odist district. In 1790 William Losee, a member of the
New York Conference, penetrated through the western
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 78
wilds of the state, enduring great hardships, and crossed
Lake Ontario to Kingston.* He is usually supposed to
have formed the first Canadian Methodist Society.f He
was joined the next year by Darius Dunham, and two
circuits were formed, reporting at the ensuing conference
one hundred and sixty-five members. Canada reported
five circuits in 1801. The following year the name of Na-
than Bangs appeared in the brief catalogue of ten self-
Bacrificing men who were traveling the remote and vast
region, he having traveled the preceding year " under the
presiding elder." During six years he is still to brave its
inclement climate and privations, laboring from its most
western settlements down to Montreal and Quebec.
There were now about eleven hundred and sixty Meth-
odists scattered through the Province, but without a
single place of worship entitled to the name of church
* Banks's History says 1791. See, however, letter of Bev. Anson
Green, March 2, 1860, In the (Canada) Christian Guardian: " Losee
formed the first class at Adolphusville in 1790 ; the second at Earnest-
town, on the Bay Shore, (date uncertain ;) thesthird on the 2d of
March, 1791, near Xapanee."
t In Canada, however, as in many other parts of the globe, Method-
ism was first introduced by a local preacher. A Mr. Neel, from the
United States, preached before Losee's arrival, at Queenstown. Bangs,
in the History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, (vol. ii, page 122,
note,) says : " He was a holy man of God, and an able minister of the
New Testament. His word was blessed to the awakening and conver-
sion of many souls, and he was always spoken of by the people with
great affection and veneration as the pioneer of Methodism in that
country. Among those who first joined the Society may be mentioned
<tian Warner, who lived near what is now called St. David's. He
oecame a class-leader, and his house was a home for the preachers and
for preaching for many years. He was considered a father in Israel by
all who knew him. The first Methodist meeting-house erected in
that part of the country was in his neighborhood." Cotemporane-
ous with, if not before Neel's labors, members of the families of Em-
bury and Heck, the founders of Methodism in New York, introduced
it into Canada. A letter dated Frankford, (Canada,) Feb. 25, 1860,
: " The first period of Methodism in Canada may be assigned to
the years from the settling of the Hecks and Embury in Augusta, until
the arrival of the first itinerant, thirteen years, or from 1778 to 1791.
[See note above.] The second period may be considered from the
itinerancy of Losee in 1791 to the beginning of the war in 1312."
74 LIFE AND TIMES OF
or chapel. He was to leave them more than doubled in
number, (2,360,) and with that supply of chapels begun
which has since dotted most of the country ; and he was
to live to see Methodism numerically the strongest form
of Protestantism in British North America, except the
national Church.
EAELT CANADIAN ITINERANTS.
The saintly and chivalric itinerants with whom he was
associated in Canada were ever afterward dear to his
memory. They formed his character as a Methodist
preacher ; he delighted to speak of them in his latter
years as the champions of the cross in those borean
regions, transcending in labors if not in sufferings the
early French missionaries, who had preceded them in the
same field. He alludes to them often, and with glowing
language, in his History of Methodism. We have al-
ready met with the name of James Coleman, an itiner-
ant, who, the historian records, bore for some time the
scar of a blow on the forehead, struck by a persecutor
in whose cabin he was uttering words of comfort to an
awakened soul. Of Hezekiah Calvin Wooster he speaks
with emphasis. "His name is 'like ointment poured
forth' to many in that country, and he used to be
spoken of as an extraordinary messenger of God, sent
to declare his counsels. After exerting all his powers
of body and mind in beseeching sinners to be reconciled
to God, he returned home with the fatal consumption
fastened upon his lungs. But even while in this feeble
state, so reduced as not to be able to speak above a
whisper, this whisper, being announced to the congrega-
tion by another, was* frequently attended by such a divine
energy and unction that sinners would tremble and fall
under the announcement. It is said indeed that his
very countenance exhibited such reflections of the divine
glory, that it struck conviction into the hearts of many
who beheld it. ' Behold how great a matter a little
D.D. 75
fire kindleth :' though Hezekiah Calvin Wooster could
not be regarded as a man of more than ordinary talents
as a preacher, yet such was the holy fervor of his
spirit, his deep devotion to God, his burning love for the
souls of his fellow-men, that he was the instrument of
kindling up such a fire in the hearts of the people, where-
ever he went, particularly in Upper Canada, that all the
waters of strife and opposition have not been able to
quench it. This testimony I consider due to such de-
parted worth. The grace of God wrought mightily in
him, and great was his glorying in the cross of Christ ;
nor did he glory in aught else, for he was as much dis-
tinguished for his humility, his deadness to self and to
applause, as he was for the fervor of his spirit, the
strength of his faith, and the baldness and pointedness
of his appeals to the consciences of the people."
In 1796 Wooster volunteered, with Samuel Coate, to
join the few Methodist pioneers beyond the Canada line.
His history during that expedition would form a romantic
and almost incredible narrative. Three weeks were spent
on their ipute, during which they lodged every night
under the trees of the forest. He traveled about three
years in Canada, preaching almost daily, and with a power
seldom equaled in the history of the Christian ministry.
There was, indeed, an energy in his words quite irre-
sistible. The dwellers in the wilderness, long destitute of
the means of religion, heard with amazement his simple
but overwhelming eloquence, and often fell, in their forest
congregations, like dead men, under his ministrations.
"O what awful sensations," exclaims Dr. Bangs, "ran
through the assemblies while Calvin Wooster and others
of like spirit were denouncing the just judgments of God
rt'_rainst impenitent sinners, in such pointed language as
made the 'ear to tingle' and the heart to palpital
He was a man of Abrahamic faith, and hifl prayers seem-
ed directly to enter heaven and prevail with God. He
maintained an unceasing spirit of prayer. Often at mid-
76 LIFE AND TIMES OF
night would he rise to pray, while the inmates of the
house where he made his temporary abode were awed by
the solemn voice of his supplications ascending amid the
silence. Such was the unction of his spirit, and the power
of his appeals to the wicked, that few of them could stand
before him ; they would either rush out of the assembly
or fall to the floor.
" Nor was he alone in this respect. The other
preachers caught the flame, and were carried forward
under its sacred impulses in their Master's work. Many
instances of the manifestations of divine power and
grace might be narrated, which illustrate the authority
by which these men of God preached, one of which I will
relate. At a quarterly meeting in the Bay of Quinte
circuit, as the preacher began his sermon, a thought-
less young man in the front gallery commenced, in a
playful mood, to swear profanely, and otherwise to dis-
turb the congregation. The preacher paid no attention
to him until he was in the middle of his sermon, when,
feeling strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,
suddenly stopping, he fixed his piercing eye upon the
profane man, and pointing his finger at him with great
energy, cried out, 'My God'smite himf He instantly
fell, as if shot through the heart with a bullet. At this
moment, such a divine afflatus came down upon the con-
gregation that sinners were crying to God for mercy in
every direction, while the saints of God burst forth in
loud praises to his name. Similar instances of God's
gracious presence were not uncommon in those days in
that country. Indeed, this great work may be said to
have been in some sense the beginning of that revival of
religion which soon after spread through various parts
of the United States."
William Anson, another of Xathan Bangs's colaborers,
was also one of the mighty men of those days. He con-
tinued two years beyond the line, and afterward traveled
circuits in New York and New England ; he returned
\TIIAX BANGS, D.D. 7,
to Canada, and then served acrain in the states, as
presiding elder. One of his districts extended from
Rhinebeck, New York, to New Haven, Connecticut.
"He had his full share of hardships," says the obituary
of the Minutes, " bnt never flinched."
Setli Crowell was another of the early Canadian itin-
erants. He joined the Church in Connecticut, entered
the New York Conference in 1801, and offered himself
immediately as a volunteer for Canada, where he spent
two years. Dr. Bangs Bays, "lie was a young preacher
^reat zeal, and of the most indefatigable industry, and
going into that country, he soon caught the flame of di-
vine love which had been enkindled by the instrumental-
ity of AYooster, Coate, and Dunham. He entered into
the work with great energy and perseverance, and God
ssed his labors with much snoot So greatly had
eel the labors of his faithful servants in this
province, that there were returned, in the Minutes of
Conference for the year 1801, 1,159 members of the
Church. It had indeed extended into the lower prov-
ince, on the Ottawa River, an English settlement about
fifty miles west of Montreal." He possessed superior
talent-, ;: and." say his brethren, in the Conference Min-
ute- :*ten hear k in demonstration of the
Spirit and power, and was instrumental in the conversion
of many soul-.'"
Dr. . summarily refers to his colabor*
tlm distant field, in the year 1801: "In Upp ' .da,
the . nl extended up the shore of Lake On-
tario, even to the head of the lake and to Niagara, and
thence to I. _ Point, on the northwestern BhoreofLake
. including four large four weeks1 circuit dis-
trict ler the charge of the Rev. Joseph
Jewell, who trav< isively through the newly-
tied . preaching in log-1 me-
times in groves, and everywhere beholding the displ;
of the power an - ' rod in t!;
78 LIFE AND TIMES OF
conversion of sinners, as well as the sanctification of be-
lievers. A great work of God was carried on this year
under the preaching of Joseph Sawyer, whose faithful
labors on the Niagara circuit will be long and gratefully
remembered by the people in that country ; and it was
during this revival that the present writer, after four or •
five years of hard struggling under a consciousness of
his sinfulness, was brought into the fold of Christ. And
here he wishes to record his gratitude to God for his
distinguished grace in snatching such a brand from the
fire, and to his people for their kindness, and more espe-
cially to that servant of God, the Rev. Joseph Sawyer,
under whose pastoral oversight he was brought into the
Church. Nor should the labors and privations, the
prayers and sufferings in the cause of Christ, of that
faithful servant of God, the Rev. James Coleman, be for-
gotten. He preceded Mr. Sawyer in the Niagara circuit,
and was beloved by the people of God for his fidelity in
the work of the ministry, and for his deep devotion to
their spiritual interests, evinced by his faithful attention
to the arduous duties of his circuit. He had many seals
to his ministry, and the writer of this remembers with
gratitude the many prayers which James Coleman offered
up to God in his behalf, while a youthful stranger in that
land, and while seeking, with his eyes but half opened,
to find the way of peace."
" The work also prevailed on the Bay of Quinte and
Oswegatchie circuits, under the labors of Sylvanus Keeler,
Seth Crowell, and others. Like the new settlements in
the western country, Upper Canada was at that time but
sparsely populated, so that in riding from one appoint-
ment to another the preachers sometimes had to pass
through wildernesses from ten to sixty miles, and
not unfrequently had either to encamp in the woods or
sleep in Indian huts. And sometimes, in visiting the
newly settled places, they have carried provender for
their horses over night, when they would tie them to a
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 7S
tree to prevent their straying in the woods ; while the
preachers themselves had to preach, eat, and lodge in the
same room, the curling smoke ascending through an
opening in the roof of the log-house, which had not yet
the convenience of even a chimney."
" But in the midst of these labors and privations, they
were abundantly compensated in beholding the blessed
effects of their evangelical efforts, and the cordiality and
gratification with which they were received, more espe-
cially by those whose hearts God had touched by his
Spirit. For though these people were in the wilderness,
and many of them poor, they seemed to be ripe for the
Gospel, and it was no less gratifying to its messengers
than to its recipients to behold its blessed effects upon
the hearts and lives of such as l believed with a heart
unto righteousness.' While they who resisted the truth
often manifested their enmity by persecuting those who
proclaimed it, such as did ' receive it in the love of it '
evinced their affection and gratitude to its preachers by
making them welcome to their habitations and entertain-
ing them in the very best manner they could. For the
self-denying labors and sacrifices of these early Method-
ist preachers, thousands of immortal beings in Canada
will doubtless praise God in that day c when he shall
come to make up his jewels."'
was Methodism — such its introduction into the
United States and its extension to Canada — such the
men and scenes of its early history in the latter country,
among which young Bangs entered the "itinerancy."
We have seen him setting out, with his horse and sad-
dle-bags ; let us now follow him in his route through the
wilderness. There are noteworthy adventures, trials,
and triumphs awaiting him.
80 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER VII.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IN CANADA.
Luther includes temptations among the means nec-
essary for the training of a successful preacher. Dr.
Bangs had this training thoroughly in the early years of
his itinerancy on the Canadian frontier. He was ap-
pointed to the Niagara circuit, with William Anson,
under the presidency of Joseph Sawyer. It had been a
two weeks' circuit, but was now so enlarged as to require
six weeks' travel, with daily preaching, to supply its nu-
merous appointments. " It extended," he says, " from
the head of Lake Ontario over the Grand River, and com-
prehended all that part of the country, known as Long
Point, which juts into Lake Erie. On the banks of the
Grand River the Mohawk Indians were settled. They
were in a most degraded state, as the missionary, a
clergyman of the Church of England, preached to them
only on the Sabbath, and then spent his time in drink-
ing ardent spirits, playing cards, and horse-racing. Our
preachers tried to preach to them a few times, but with-
out any success.
" The settlements in this country were new, the roads
bad, and the fare very hard ; but God was with us in
much mercy, awakening and converting sinners, and this
was abundant compensation for all our toils. In some
places a strong tide of prejudice set in against us, and
was extremely difficult to resist. Often while traversing
those lonely plains and solitary woods did I call to mind
the pleasant hours I had spent among my brethren, with
whom I first united in Christian fellowship under better
auspices.
D.D. 81
"On this circuit I continued until December 1, J 801,
when that part of it called Long Point was detached,
and I set off to travel this alone. There were but two
small societies in all this new field. They were made
up chiefly of immigrants from New Jersey. In one
of them was a local preacher of considerable talents
and piety, who was useful in keeping the societies to-
gether. As I was to labor alone, my constant prayer to
God was that he would give me seals to my ministry ah
evidence that he had called me to the work. After pass-
ing through several little settlements, in which I stopped
and preached, I came to the town of Burford, a settle-
ment on the Grand River, about ten miles north of the
Mohawk Indian village. Here seemed to be a frank and
generous people, and they received me with affection
and respect, and listened to the Word witli apparent
eagerness. WhUe I was with them I heard of a settle-
ment about twenty-five miles distant, in the town of
Oxford, where they were -anxious to hear the Gospel.
Accordingly I set off to pay them a visit. It being the
beginning of winter, the ground partly frozen, the mud
deep, and the road, if such it could be called, running
through a wilderness, though I made all the speed I
could, I traveled only about fourteen miles that day.
I put up at a small log-hut with a family that had been
educated as Baptists. I was treated with hospitality,
but they seemed to have little sense of religion. The
next day I readied the settlement and lodged with Major
Ingersoll, to whom I had a letter of introduction from
Captain Mallory, of Burford. I was received with cor-
diality, and treated with great respect. I preached three
times here, and under the two last sermons many were
awakened to a sense of their lost condition, and after-
ward converted."
6
82 LIFE AND TIMES OF
A SIGNIFICANT DREAM.
This beginning of success lifted a weight from his
diffident spirit. Before it occurred he had given way to
despair, under a " temptation of the devil,'1 as he believed.
Seeing no immediate effect of his labors, he had begun
to doubt his call to the ministry, and had resolved to
return home and give up his "license." He had actually
mounted his horse and was retracing his course, when,
arriving at the Grand River, he found that a "January
thaw" had so broken up the ice as to render it impos-
sible for him to cross, whether by a boat or on the ice
itself. Thus providentially arrested, he returned de-
spondent and confounded. A significant dream relieved
him. He thought he was working with a pickax on
the top of a basaltic rock. His muscular arm brought
down stroke after stroke for hours; but the rock was
hardly indented. He said to himself at last, " It is use-
less ; I will pick no more." Suddenly a stranger of digni-
fied mien stood by his side and spoke to him. " You will
pick no more?" "No." "Were you not set to this
task ?" " Yes." "And why abandon it ?" " My work
is vain; I make no impression on the rock." Solemnly
the stranger replied, "What is that to you? Your
duty is to pick, whether the rock yields or not. Your
work is in your own hands ; the result is not. Work
on !" He resumed his task. The first blow was given
with almost superhuman force, and the rock flew into a
thousand pieces. He awoke, pursued his way back to
Burford with fresh zeal and energy, and a great revival
followed. From that day he never had even a " tempta-
tion" to give up his commission.
A CONVERSION ON HORSEBACK.
"I had been laboring," he says, "without any appar-
ent success for some time. I at length reached Burford,
preached on Thursday evening, and appointed a meeting
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 83
on Sabbath morning at ten o'clock. At that time I ad-
dressed the people on the parable of the sower and his seed,
and I spoke strong words, thinking meanwhile, This will
either k kill or cure.' A small society had been formed
there, but not one of its members professed religion.
They had only joined together to maintain preaching in
the place. After the sermon Captain Mallory came to
me much agitated, and uttered some despondent words
about ' giving up.' Alas ! thought I, I have killed you
all. However, he invited me to dine with him, which
I did, and talked with him as encouragingly as possible.
I had appointed a meeting for exhortation and prayer in
the evening, although there was not a soul among them
that dared to pray openly besides myself. They sang
a while ; I then gave them an exhortation and prayed
with them."
He observed, after the prayer, that his friend Captain
Mallory sat with his head inclined upon a table, in much
agitation, and, accosting him, received the reply, "I am
alarmed for my soul ; I am afraid that God will never
have mercy upon me. Pray, O, pray for me !" " I will,"
said the preacher, "if you will kneel down." " Down he
went, and the whole congregation with him. I prayed for
him by name. Soon the meeting closed, the people dis-
persed, and I went to bed. Early next morning a young
man by the name of Matthews came into my room before
I was up, and with tears in h?s eyes began a surprising
narrative. He said: 'After we left the meeting, Captain
Mallory and I walked and talked together .until nearly
midnight, and parted fearing we should both be lost
forever. I went home and to bed, but could not sleep,
lenly a voice seemed to say to me, "Arise and pray."
I replied. M I cannot." .V second time "Arise and pray"
sounded in my soul, and a third time. I arose, knelt
down, and began to pray. Very soon it appeared ;i-> if
my room was filled with the glory of the Lord, and my
soul was pervaded with peace and joy unspeakable.1
84 LIFE AND TIMES OF
4 Go,' said I, ' and tell Captain Mallory what the Lord
has done for you; and as soon as I have breakfasted I
will go over and see him.' I went to Mallory's home,
and found him walking the floor and wringing his hands
as in an agony. He said to me, ' Sir, what would become
of me were I to die in this situation ?' ' You would be
lost,' said I; ' but you need not be. If you look to God
by faith in Christ he will save you, and he is ready to
save you now. Look up.'
" He and Matthews had agreed to accompany me that
day to a new appointment about eight or ten miles dis-
tant, and I requested him to get ready to go. He replied,
4 1 cannot ; I feel so wretched.' ' You must go,' said I,
4 for I am a stranger, and know not the way.' He finally
saddled his horse, and we set off, he riding on one side
of me and Matthews on the other. We had not gone
more than forty rods before he leaned forward upon his
horse's neck, and said, ' Pray for me, for I feel as if I
should sink.' * I'll pray for you,' said I ; ' look by faith
to God, and he will save you.' It seemed, indeed, as if
the glory of God was all around me, and his love filling
my heart. Not more than five minutes afterward the
Lord converted his soul on his horse ; he praised God
aloud, and we then went on our way rejoicing.
THE EOCK SPLIT.
" In Oxford, Major Ingersoll, to whom I was first in-
troduced, was a Universalist ; and he told me, on my first
visit, that he. was an unbeliever in the doctrine of deprav-
ity ; that he never had himself a depraved heart. ' This
assertion,' said I, ' is a sure sign that you never knew
your heart.' On my second visit, I found him sitting in
his chair, with his head inclined on his hands. He looked
up to me, and said, 4 O, what a depraved heart I have !'
'Ay !' said I ; ' have you discovered that fact at last ?'
4 Yes, indeed,' he replied ; ' what shall I do to be saved?'
1 Surrender it up to God by faith in Christ, and he will give
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 85
you a now heart, and renew a right spirit within you."
He did ><>, and found the promise verified. He, his wife,
who was a very sensible and amiable woman, his two
daughters, together with the husband of one of them,
were soon converted and joined the Church; and the
i work quickly spread through the neighborhood,
sweeping all before it.* In this way the revival prevailed
in both of these places, so that large and flourishing soci-
eties were established, and no less than six preachers
were raised up ; one of whom, by the name of Reynolds,
became a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church of
Canada.
u Thus the rock was split. The reformation extended
through many settlements, particularly Oxford, where
large numbers were ' turned from darkness to light.' "
Of course opposition was provoked by this prosperity.
Slanderous reports against the Methodists were circulated.
In some places violent hostility was attempted against
their meetings: The young itinerant needed also still
further training by temptation, in accordance with
Luther's maxim.
LACKINGTON'S MEMOIRS.
" Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth !"
.V small book, written beyond the ocean, by an apostate
* More than thirty years later Dr. Bangs, while traveling through the
state of New York, wrote in a private letter, now before me :
•n my way in the canal boat a young preacher introduced himself
to me. and asked if I remembered one Hitchcock, who lived in the town
of Oxford, in Upper Canada, about thirty-four years ago. I replied,
-. very well.' 'I am,' said he, 'his son.' His father and mother
were converted under my ministry on the fir.>t circuit I ever traveled,
and were soon after married together, and 1. ir son, a mj
ter ! This circumstance brought a thousand pleasant recollectio;
my mind, and made me thank God and take courage. The grandfather
■ r.h was a Oniversalist, a Major Ingersoll, to whom I had a
of introduction in a new place where I went to preach. Hi:
I our
Church; and now, here is one of the third generation in the itin-
field ! I • g M pray and preach with greater fervor 1 1
86 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Methodist, became a serious obstruction to this good
work in the far-off regions of Canada, and, for a season,
threatened to arrest forever the career of this man, des-
tined to become one of the most eminent laborers of
American Protestantism. "An enemy," he says, "in-
troduced Lackington's Memoirs among us, and it passed
from house to house, from hand to hand, counteracting
our labors." Lackington, a poor but enterprising young
man, had joined Wesley's Society in London. Wesley
established a fund for the aid of Christian young men in
the beginning of their business. By its assistance Lack-
ington became a noted bookseller ; he grew opulent, and
rode in his own carriage. He claimed the distinction of
introducing the era of " cheap publishing" in England,
though that honor belongs to Wesley himself. Lacking-
ton, however, deserves credit as a chief promoter of
cheap and popular publications, and he ranks with Dun-
ton and Dodsley among the famous typographers and
bibliopoles of English literature. He was a diligent but
cursory reader, and, by deistical books, was led to aban-
don his brethren, and to become an avowed infidel. He
published his noted "Memoirs," in which he attributes
his early religious impressions, and all Methodist "re-
vivals," to morbid excitement of the imagination. He
inserted in it prurient love-letters, said to have been
written by Wesley in his eighty-first year. These letters
he afterward ascertained and acknowledged to be forg-
eries. Their author himself at last confessed, over his
own signature and in deep remorse, that they were
forgeries. Lackington repented, rejoined his Methodist
brethren, built them a chapel on his country estate, pub-
lished his " Confessions," and died in the faith.* The
first of these books, however, was alone circulated at
* See History of the Religious Movement, etc., called Methodism. Vol.
ii, page 376, note. Both books are still classed among the " Curiosities
of Literature," and arc favorites with bibliomaniacs. The best edition
of " The Memoirs" is that of Whitaker and Arnot, London, 1S30. It
gives in an appendix a large part of the " Confessions."
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 87
this time in Canada, and the Methodists knew not the
real history of its author. They were stunned at first
by its plausible impeachments ; their inexperienced
preacher was unable to refute them as matters of fact,
and sunk into despair under their influence on his own
mind.
A SEVERE TRIAL.
To him it was now "the hour and power of dark-
ness.'' His nervous system had suffered ; his labors
and excitements had exhausted him ; he was " thin and
pallid," and in a physical condition for morbid impres-
sions. Xor had he yet learned by experience that ex-
cessive excitation on religious, as on any other subjects,
must, by a physiological law, be attended with reaction.
After reading the Memoir he departed on horseback for
his next appointment. Though he had hitherto been able
to maintain a vivid sense of religious enjoyment, his
heart sank within him on his solitary route. Doubts, as
by preternatural agency, crowded around his mind, and
enveloped him in utter darkness. He was tempted to
believe that he had erred in the excitement which his
labors had produced among the people, though he saw-
that their lives were reformed. He resolved to preach
differently, and to conduct his public meetings with more
moderation. The resolution, however, soon struck him
with dismay; he sank, confounded, deeper and deeper
into the abyss of darkness, and began to fear that his
own spiritual experience had been a delusion. Stop-
ping f«>r the night in a Christian family, he quite failed
in the dome-tic prayer with which he closed the evening.
He retired to his bed in indescribable distress. Hi- -leep
- trouble]. . with "awful alarms;" he dreamed
that a t;. demons -tared at him. "When I saw
(claimed, I will not fear you, I know where
go for help, and began immediately to pray; but my
prayers seemed like vapor, or words: without meaning. I
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF
had no access to God. I ceased praying, and the phan-
toms drew closer around me. I began again to pray,
but with the like effect. When I again ceased, the
demons rushed at me with increased violence, and I
awoke in intense agony. I could no longer rest in my
bed, but instantly arose and fell on my knees, but, alas !
the heavens seemed to be brass over my head. I sank
into despair. I went down stairs. The woman of the
house, who was a most amiable Christian, asked me
what was the matter, for she perceived my agitation.
Xot being willing to trouble her mind with a recital of
my distress, I evaded for some time a direct answer, but
at last said, ' I believe there is no mercy for me.' I spent
the night without sleep, sometimes lying on the floor, at
others attempting to pray, but without success or hope
of deliverance from my anguish. Such torment I am
sure I could not have endured for many days ; I thought
that the lost could experience no greater misery. Fre-
quently was I tempted to open my mouth in blasphemy
against God, and to curse the Saviour of men. Which
way to look for relief I knew not, for I thought God had
deserted me, and I now believe that he gave me up to
the buffetings of the adversary of souls for my trial,
but so far restrained his malice as not to permit him to
destroy me." On the ensuing Sabbath he had two ap-
pointments to preach. He went to them in deep anguish.
While addressing the people his heart was " filled with
horrors." " Xo one but God," he says, " or such as
have had like trials, can conceive of my wretchedness. 1
could hardly stand up ; I felt that I ought not to preach,
being, as I feared, lost forever." After the service he
appealed to an old local preacher, who was present, for
counsel; but the good man could not comprehend the
case, and left him more desolate than ever. The thought
occurred to his own mind, however, that God was leav-
ing him temporarily to his own weakness, to test him
and teach him profitable lessons. This gave him a dim
NATHAN HANGS, D.D. 89
hope "that lie would sooner or later deliver" him. He
attempted to preach again the next day, but "stood he-
fore the people, trembling with despair." Soon after he
met an "old experienced exhorter," who gave him some
hopeful counsels, but could give him no effectual relief
To most godless men this morbid anatomization i- re-
pulsive; to many good men of healthful temperament it
i- a mystery, or mysticism. Like morbid anatomy, how-
ever, it has its scientific importance, and I am bound to
relate the actual facts of the case. There is much truth
in " muscular Christianity," and a great deal of divinity
in physiology.* The physical constitution of man is an
utial condition of his probationary life ; and these
painful experiences have had, in all ages, an historical,
if not an essential connection with the moral development
of the human soul. Whether essential or accidental in
this instance, they soon passed away; and this tried
soul came out of its eclipse brightly and serenely, with
vigorous, and even robust powers, for a long life of
healthful and manly endeavors.
DELIVERANCE CURIOUS DREAVt.
" On the next day," he says, " I returned to the place
where I was first seized with this horror, and having a
prayer-meeting appointed, I kneeled down and prayed
for deliverance. God appeared in gracious power, dis-
pelling the clouds which hung over my mind, removing
my doubts and fears, and shining upon my soul with the
brightness of his reconciled countenance. All within
me rejoiced in God my Saviour. Never was the ' cool-
ing water brook' more refreshing to a thirsty man than
Christ was now to my panting heart/' He returned the
following day to Burford, where Lacking-ton's Memoir,
the proximate occasion of his trouble, was first circulated.
II entered the house of a family which had been edu-
cated as Baptists, but all of whom had recently joined
the Methodist Society. As he took a chair at the hearth,
90 LIFE AND TIMES OF
his host began to relate a curious, if not ludicrous dream,
which he lately had respecting the welcomed visitor.
He dreamed that the latter and a venerated old friend,
a Baptist clergyman, sat with him in his cottage con-
versing, when suddenly the itinerant began to be
strangely transformed, taking a spiral shape, and dimin-
ishing to so small a size as to occupy a space of but
three or four inches ; he would have smiled had not the
itinerant, meanwhile, appeared to be in excruciating tor-
ture. Turning to the aged Baptist, he asked what the
singular metamorphosis could mean. " God is trying
him," was the reply, "for thus the L#rd tries all his
special servants." "Is he then, indeed, one of God's
special servants ?" rejoined the host. " Yes," responded
the Baptist, " and if you will keep your eye upon him
you will see him rise again to his full stature." Directly
the prediction began to be verified ; the spiral form rose,
and the "special servant of God" stood forth "more
erect, more fresh and fair than ever before." On hear-
ing this dream the tried evangelist related to his host,
with throbbing heart, the terrible ordeal through which
he had passed; "and," he writes, " we rejoiced together
for the consolation of our God."
Whatever importance may be given to these incidents,
his own reflections upon them, written more than half a
century later, will be read with interest. He says : " I
have been thus particular in relating this severe conflict,
its causes, progress, and results, that if any who may read
of it should be exposed to similar temptations, they may
know that others have had the same terrible trial ; that
'there is no temptation but what is common to man,'
and that God will ' with the temptation make a way of
escape,' and therefore they need not ' think it strange
concerning the fiery trial, as though some strange thing
*had happened unto them.' Another design is to guard
young disciples against reading books which are written
to disparage experimental religion, under the pretense
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 9L
that they do not attack religion itself, but only hypocrisy
or fanaticism. This was the case with Lackington ; his
subtle poison was well prepared to pervert the minds of
unwary Christians, though his book is full of proofs of
his own depraved heart and purpose."
CONSOLATION.
He continues: "This storm having passed over, I went
on my way rejoicing, and the Lord continued to work
powerfully among the people. In* riding through the
Avoods, I had a place where I used to stop for prayer,
and my horse became so accustomed to it that when-
ever he arrived near the spot he would turn toward it
and stop, as if he knew it and the reason of my dis-
mounting. This was often a Bethel to my soul. Oc-
casionally my temptations would return upon me with
great violence; but God gave me power in prayer and
faith to resist and conquer them, for which I praised him
with a joyful heart. One cold day, while riding through
the woods, I was deeply disturbed with thoughts of my
loneliness and destitution, for my pecuniary means were
about exhausted ; my salary was next to nothing ; I could
see no means for my future wants ; I lived from house
to house, from settlement to settlement, and the future
seemed dreary and forlorn. Here was another temptation
by which my mind was greatly perplexed; when, taking
out my hymn book from my pocket, my eyes fell upon
those words,
" 'Peace, troubled soul, thou needst not fear;
Thy great Provider still is near ;
Who fed thee last, will feed thee still :
Be calm, and sink into his will.'
•• As I read them, such a sudden glow of joy filled and
overflowed my bouI thai I praised God aloud, and T rode
on triumphing in his goodness to me and to all men."
92 LIFE AND TIMES GF
AN EFFECTIVE REBUKE.
His deliverance from these trials inspired him with con-
fidence, and even with " humble boldness." He preached
with increased power. His word was like a trumpet
sounding through the wilderness. He rebuked gainsay-
ers courageously, and they often cowered before his ap-
peals. A profane " Universalist " accosted him rudely ;
" after conversing with him some time, with no effect,"
he writes, " I rebuk'ed him in the name of the Lord,
and admonished him that unless he ceased his profan-
ity and turned to God with repentance, he would sink
into perdition when he died. This enraged him, and he
shook his fist in my face, saying it was too much for him
to bear. I told him that I feared him not, and urged my
exhortation that he would repent of his sins, before they
might prove his ruin, saying, ' Do you think I am afraid
of you, you poor child of the devil ? You have no power
to strike me, and therefore away with your fist, and hum-
ble yourself before God, " if perhaps the thought of thy
heart may be forgiven thee." ' The enraged man was
awe-struck ; he became immediately calm, and went
away, promising to ame*nd, and to pray to God for for-
giveness."
A GAINSAYER CAUGHT.
Like St. Paul, he occasionally attempted to catch some
by guile. " On some of my early visits to Oxford," he
says, "I preached at a public house, where, among others
who annoyed us, was a thoughtless young man by the
name of Rogers, who was given to all manner of nonsense,
making amusement of everything serious. I talked with
him privately, but without effect. One day I was dining
in company with a number of gentlemen, and him among
the rest. He kept up, as usual, his jests and pleasantries
about religion, when suddenly a thought struck me by
which I could fix him in 'a tight place.' Accordingly,
NATHAN BANGS', D.D. 93
after dinner, when we arose from the table to return
thanks, I >aid, lMr. Rogers, will you have the goodness
to return thanks to God for his bounties to us here to-
day'r' We all stood in silence for some minutes, when
lie, with confusion, said, 'Sir, I beg to be excused;' and
I returned thanks. This appeared to sober him some-
what, bnt I saw no material change in him for that season.
About three years later, while traveling as a missionary
on the River Thames, a messenger came after me to visit a
man who was very sick. I mounted my horse, and rode
several miles to see him. As I approached the gate be-
fore the house the invalid came tottering out, looking
extremely emaciated, and with tears streaming down his
wan cheeks. lie gave me his hand, exclaiming, ' O, sir,
how glad I am to see you ! God only knows what I have
Buffered for want of you during my sickness. As soon as
I heard of your being in this country I sent for you, that
I might ask your forgiveness.' ' Why,' replied I, ' what
have you done to me, that you need ask my pardon?'
1 0,' said he, ' do you not recollect how I treated you at
Oxford, and do you not remember asking me to give
thanks at the dinner-table ? That rebuke went to my
heart, and produced an impression which never left me
till God relieved it by his saving grace. Can you forgive
me V ' I have nothing against you,' I replied ; ' I knew
you were a thoughtless sinner, and hoped you would
sooner or later see the error of your ways. Has God
forgiven you ?' ' Yes,' he responded, ' I believe he has ;
and now that I have seen you and obtained your pardon,
I can die in peace.1 " They kneeled together in prayer
and praise, and parted hoping to meet again in heaven.
FATE OF AX OPPOSED.
A more serious fate attended <ome of his opposers. The
'•Christian Guardian*' (Canada) relates the following ex-
ample: "Dr. Bi - the first Methodist or Christian
minister who entered the new settlement of Col<
94: LIFE AND TIMES OF
with the message of salvation. In the settlement was a
man named W., whose house was freely opened for the
purposes of public worship, and there the doctor opened
his commission. He preached a few times, invariably
leaving an appointment for a future time. He bore his
testimony against all sin, and doubtless in particular
against that of intoxication. Satan could not yield the
control of his adherents without a struggle, and he never
lacks agents to carry out his unholy designs. W.,
though he had opened his house for the preaching of the
Gospel, was not a pious man ; but strong hopes were
entertained that he might become such. Several other
persons were his companions in sin, and some among
them much more determined and scheming in evil than
himself. They began to think if the preacher should be
permitted to go on as he had begun their jovialty would
soon come to an end. What was to be done? Some
plan must be devised at once to prevent it. It was
determined that they should collect together at the
house of W. at the next appointment, and that he,
who was to be a party to the scheme, should turn
the itinerant out of his house .and require him not
to return. W. readily concurred in the design. To
prepare for this unholy work, they met together some
time before the appointed hour, and probably brought
themselves up to the required point of courage by sun-
dry potations of whisky. As it had been noised abroad
that this was to be the last visit of the minister of God,
a much more numerous assemblage than usual had taken
place in;order to witness the sport. On the arrival of
the preacher he expressed his gratification to see so
many together, and doubtless deemed it an omen of
good. But, alas ! he was soon to be undeceived. He
was permitted to enter the house, and make various
preparations for the worship he anticipated he was
about to lead. At this juncture W. arose, and taking him
by the shoulders, marched him to the door, and then
NATHAN feANGS, D.D. 95
stated that he was not to preach in his house again, and
that it was the determination of the neighborhood that
he should visit them no more. The announcement of
W. was received with universal approbation and a shout
of joy. And no doubt fiends in hell raised a shout of
applause. The devil had accomplished his end in using
W. in ejecting from the neighborhood the Gospel messen-
ger, and rejecting therewith the offer of salvation.
"This, however, was but the beginning. In the pres-
ence of all the people, the rejected minister of Christ,
in the most solemn maimer, followed the directions
of the Saviour. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket,
and raising first one foot and then the other, he wiped the
dust from the soles of his shoes, which they had collected
on the ground of W., declaring at the same time he did
it as a testimony against them for refusing the message
of salvation. This announcement was received with a
shout of derision, and the itinerant took his departure
from the dwelling, which was never again to be entered
by the messenger of saving mercy. As the settlement
- ;hen distant from any other, and could only be reached
by great effort, the door also being closed against him,
it came not in the order of Providence for Mr. Bangs
again to visit that community.
"From the time that W. had been guilty of this
outrage, prosperity and comfort seemed to forsake his
habitation. One untoward event after another occurred
until he was a complete wreck, morally, mentally, socially,
physically, as well as in his secular affairs. The demon
of discontent was already in his abode. Another demon,
as a seducer, induced his wife to forsake her family and
the home of her husband, and wander into some part of
the United States, from whence she never returned. One
misfortune followed another until, in the course of a few
year-, ail his property was squandered, and he. wrecked
by disease and suffering, was dependent on charity for
his daily support. Thifl was little compared with the
96 LIFE AND TIMES OF
mental agony he was subjected to in consequence of the
gnawings of a guilty conscience for having rejected the
Gospel messenger.
"Some years afterward, TV., a decrepit and misera-
ble old man, was laid on a sick-bed, which eventually
proved to be the bed of death. Suffering and trial had
been his lot, and now he who once had been prosperous, and
bid fair for a happy and useful life, was dependent on the
bounty of others for a morsel of bread and a grave. The
Rev. Horace Dean, then being stationed in that part of the
province, was called upon to give him spiritual counsel, and
lead his heart in prayer to that God whose servant he
had turned from his door. But both mental and moral
vision seemed to be beclouded. No impression could
be produced on his heart, and he died in a state of
stolid indifference. The occasion of his death was im-
proved, as a warning to others, by the minister who
gave me the narrative.
" The late Rev. William Case succeeded Dr. Bangs in
that extensive field of labor, and was the honored instru-
ment of again introducing Methodism into the same
community, and forming the first society, where many
became holy, happy, and useful Christians."
To his many other trials was added, about the conclu-
sion of his service on this circuit, a severe attack of
intermittent fever ; he was confined to his bed for weeks,
and about two months elapsed before he could resume
his travels. At. last, though extremely feeble, and reduced
almost to a skeleton, he mounted his horse and departed
for another circuit. He had been thoroughly tested ; he
had triumphed; the rock seen in his dream had been
shivered ; further trials awaited him, but his course
henceforth was irreversibly determined.
NATHAN BANGS. D.D. 97
CHAPTER VIII.
ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
" It was," he writes, " with no little reluctance that I
parted from my friends on this circuit, particularly from
those in Burford, with whom I had formed a close inti-
macy. They were the first-fruits of my ministry, and
there had grown up between us a relation of indescriba-
ble affection, so that I could say of them as St. Paul said
of the Philippians, ' Ye are my crown of rejoicing.'
They had treated me with the tenderest kindness, bad
attended me in my sickness, had sympathized with me
in all my afflictions, and had "rejoiced with me in my
joys in the Lord. But the time was come for my depart-
ure according to the rules of our Church Discipline. I
went down among my friends on the Niagara circuit for
a season. There I was received with much cordiality.
My fever returning occasionally, I was not able to labor
much. It unnerved my mind at times. On Septem-
ber 2, 1802, rising from my bed, where I had been
shaking with an ague, I joined with a i'aw disciples in
prayer, when the Lord blessed me in an extraordinary
manner, dispelling all my depression and fears, and caus-
ing me to rejoice with exceeding joy. It broke the spell
of my disease; from this day 1 gradually recovered my
health, and prayed and preached with my usual power
and suc<
hile looking for fruits of my labors and supplica-
tions, J was called to visit a young woman who was Bup-
'1 to be dying, she was one of seven children, the
parents of whom were remarkable for their deep piety,
the mother being one of the most holy women I have
7
IfS LIFE AND TIMES OV
ever known. All the children, except the youngest, were
professors of religion ; but the one who was sick had
declined much in piety. When I entered the room I
found her on her bed extremely ill. She appeared quite
stupid, and to any question which I put to her, her
answer was, 'I do not know.' Several pious persons
were present. After conversing and meditating some
time, we all knelt down. When I had prayed, I called
on one and then another to pray. Her godly mother
was kneeling at her bedside, and I was so situated that
whenever I opened my eyes I could observe her intense
solicitude for her child. After praying for some time
the patient began strangely to revive; soon the tears
trickled down her pallid cheeks. Her mother then sud-
denly exclaimed, ' Glory to God !' clasped her hands, and
fell on the floor, overpowered by her emotions. Very
soon the daughter began to praise the Lord aloud, and
it seemed to us all that the glory of God shone around
us. As soon as the ecstasy of the invalid subsided, she
arose from the bed, walked the room, and was well from
that hour. Her restoration seemed given in answer to
prayer, and was almost instantaneous. I care not by
what name it may be called, of its reality I can have no
doubt, for I was an eye and ear-witness of the facts, as
were many others, and I have here recorded them to the
glory of God's grace in Christ Jesus.
ITINERANT ADVENTURES.
" On the 7th of October I set off, in company with
Joseph Jewell, the presiding elder, for the Bay of Quinte
circuit. We had a terrible road to travel from the head
of Lake Ontario to Little York, as it was then called,
now Toronto, over hills and, creeks, through mud and
water, but at last arrived in safety. We had an appoint-
ment for preaching on Yonge-street in the evening of
the next day. After the sermon by Mr. Jewell, I gave
an exhortation. The people requested that I might be
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 09
left for a few days to preach in the neighborhood. I
accordingly staid behind, with the understanding that
I should go on in a short time. At the time appointed
I Bet on, but was taken sick with influenza on the way.
Being tenderly nursed in the house where I stopped, I
soon recovered, mounted my horse, and rode some miles,
when my faithful animal was taken sick and the next day
died. Here, then, I was alone in a strange place, without
money, without a horse, and, as far as I knew, without
friends. I trusted in God alone, and he provided for me.
In about half an hour, during which I hardly knew which
way to turn, a gentleman came along and offered to lend
me a horse on condition that I would defer my journey
to the Bay of Quinte, and agree to remain in those parts
preaching for some time. I thankfully accepted his offer,
mounted the* horse, and went on my way rejoicing up to
Little York. The settlements in this part of the country
were all new, the roads extremely bad, and the people
generally poor and demoralized. Our occasional preach-
ers were exposed to many privations and often to much
suffering from poor fare and violent opposition. Seth
Crowell, a zealous and godly itinerant, had traveled along
the lake shore before me, and had been instrumental in
the awakening an^l conversion of many of the settlers, so
that some small societies had been formed ; 'but they were
far apart, and I found them in a dwindled condition.
On Yonge-street, which was a settlement extending
westward from Little York in a direct line for about
thirty miles, there were no societies, but all the field
waa new and uncultivated, with the exception of some
Quaker neighborhood. Among these ' Friends' Ifon
some pleasant acquaintances." He had met with some
of them in tl es of his earlier ministerial labors.
They liked his earnest spirit and his doctrine, though
they disapproved the practical Bystem of Methodism,
especially it- organized mini-try. Sometimes, traveling
at a distance from their settlement, they would join his
100 LIFE AND TIMES OF
log-cabin congregations, and after the sermon rise and
bear their favorable " testimonies." One of them, hear-
ing him on his first circuit, was so inspired and delighted
by his fervent discourse as to ask "liberty to testify" to
it, and then proceeded to say that, while listening, "It was
given him to rise to the blessed vision of the Revelator —
he saw the angel, bearing the everlasting Gospel, flying
through the midst of heaven. This is the everlasting
Gospel which they had heard that day," and the good
Quaker went on to support his Methodist brother with
a home-directed exhortation to the wondering people.
The two speakers had an agreeable interview after the
service, and comforted each other on their way heaven-
ward. The itinerant always afterward liked the Friends,
though he deemed some of their peculiarities unserip-
tural, and frankly told them so. He resolved now to
visit their settlements along the extended "Yonge-
street" route.
He set out on a winter's day with the determination
to call at as many houses as possible on the way and
give a "word of exhortation" to each. At every door
he said : " I have come to talk with you about religion,
and to pray with you. If you are willing to receive me
for this purpose I will stop ; if not, I will go on." " Only
one repulsed me through the entire day; all others heard
my exhortations, and permitted me to pray with them.
I entered one house where I found the family at din-
ner. I talked with them for a while and then pro-
posed prayer. When I arose from my knees the man
was in a profuse perspiration, and, looking me in the
face with much emotion, said, ' Sir, I believe you pray in
the Spirit.' I gave him a word of advice and left him,
a thoughtful, perhaps an awakened man." Some, how-
ever, held eager disputes with him on theological ques-
tions, and most were more inclined to show their rustic
skill in polemics than to join in his earnest devotions ;
but all treated him kindly, except a stout High Church-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 101
man, a rude emigrant, who avowed himself to "be of the
High Church of England, and a believer in her Articles
and prayer R>ok." He became so enraged at the preach-
er's citation of the Church Catechism on the sacramental
sign oi' " inward spiritual grace — a new birth unto right-
eousness"— that he vociferously threatened to "pitch
him, neck and heels," out of the cabin, and would proba-
bly have done so had it not been for the interference of
his daughter.
IMPRESSIONS.
He learned at least one valuable lesson on this journey.
He had given too much importance to "impressions."
"At a certain time," says his friend and successor in
Canada, Rev. Dr. Fitch Reed, "when the weather was
very cold and the newly-fallen snow quite deep, his mind
became more than usually impressed with the value of
souls, and his heart burned with desire to do all he could
to save them. In the midst of his reflections he came
opposite a dwelling that stood quite a distance from
the road in the field. Instantly he was impressed to go
to the house and talk and pray with its family. He
could see no path through the deep snow, and he felt
reluctant to wade that distance, expose himself to the
cold, and perhaps after all accomplish no good. He
resolved not to go. No sooner had he passed the house
than the impression became doubly strong, and he was
constrained to turn back. He fastened his horse to the
fence, waded through the snow to the house, and not a
soul icas there ! From that time he resolved never to
confide in mere impressions ■."
FRONTIER LIFE — ANECDOTE.
Be delayed much on this route, preaching often and
with success. "There was quite an awakening among
the people," he writes, "and many sought redemption
in the blood of ' hat seven
102 LIFE AND TIMES OF
formed. But there was a marked line of distinction be-
tween the righteous and the wicked, there being but
very few who were indifferent or outwardly moral to
interpose between them. All showed openly what they
were by their words and actions, and either accepted
religion heartily or opposed it violently ; the great ma-
jority, though most of. them would come to hear me
preach, were determined opposers." Such is the char-
acter of frontier communities. Moral restraints are
feeble among them ; conventional restraints are few ; the
freedom of their simple wTilderness-life characterizes all
their habits ; they have their own code, of decorum, and
sometimes of law itself. They are frank, hospitable,
but violent in prejudice and passion; fond of disputation,
of excitement, and of hearty, if not reckless amusements.
The primitive Methodist preachers knew well how to
accommodate themselves to the habits, as also to the
fare of such a people, and hence their extraordinary suc-
cess along the whole American frontier. Their simple
and familiar methods of worship in cabins and barns, or
under trees, suited the rude settlers. Their meetings
were without the stiff order and ceremonious formality
of older communities. They were often scenes of free
debate, of interpellations and interlocutions ; a hearer at
the door-post or the window responding to, or question-
ing, or defying the preacher, who "held forth" from a
chair, a bench, or a barrel, at the other end of the build-
ing. This popular freedom was not without its advant-
ages ; it authorized equal freedom on the part of the
preacher ; it allowed great plainness of speech and direct-
ness of appeal. The early memoranda before me afford
not a few glimpses of this primitive life of the frontier —
crowded congregations in log-huts or barns — some of
the hearers seated, some standing, some filling the un-
glazed casements, some thronging the overhanging trees —
startling interjections thrown into the sermon by eccen-
tric listeners — violent polemics between the preacher and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 103
headstrong Bectarists, the whole assembly sometimes in-
volved in the earnesl debate, some for, some against him,
and ending in general confusion. A lively Methodisl
hymn was usually the best means of restoring order in
such cases. Our itinerant was never confounded by these
interruptions. He had a natural tact and a certain
authoritative presence, an air of command, qualified by a
concessive temper, which seldom failed to control the
roughest spirits. He was often characteristic, if not
directly personal, in his preaching, sometimes with quite
naive, if not ludicrous results. On one occasion he was
contrasting the characters of the righteous and the
wicked, " when an apparently well-meaning man," he
writes, " sitting before me, said aloud, ' How do you
know that, sir ?' I made him no reply, but proceeded
with the delineation of the godless character, and then
remarked, 4 It matters not what your condition or name
is, if you do thus wickedly you will be damned !' He
arose, bowed very respectfully, and said, ' My name is
Benaiah Brown, at your service,' and sat down again.
Some of my friends, thinking he wished to make dis-
turbance, went toward him to put him out of the house.
I requested them to let him alone, as he had not dis-
turbed me at all, but seemed full of respect. After the
meeting he remained, and, in conversation with him, I
asked him how he came to address me in the manner he
did. He replied, ' You described my character so ac-
curately that I thought yon knew all about me, and that
I might as well give you my name and have done with
it.' I gave him some good advice, and we parted on the
beet terms. He was a stranger in the place; the Word
had evidently taken hold upon his heart, and I may hope
its effects were lasting."
A FEONTLEB FIDDI4EB.
A more direct case occurred in a settlement about ten
miles from Toronto. •'There was," he says, '"a great
104 LIFE AND TIMES OF
awakening among the people, but an inveterate fiddler
seemed set on by the great adversary to contest the
victory with me, inch by inch. He hud earned consider-
able money as the musician of the winter-night dancing
parties of the settlers ; but he was now willing to fiddle
for nothing, if they would meet to dance and frolic
rather than to pray. He contrived every possible method
to keep the young people from our meetings. For some
time he carried his purpose with a high hand, and the
war was at last fully opened between us. One Sabbath
morning, however, I fairly caught him. I was preaching
on Gal. v, 19-21, and when I came to the word ' revel-
ings,' I applied it to his tactics, and said, ' I do not know
that the devil's musician is here to-night ; I do not see
him anywhere.' But he was sitting in a corner out
of my sight, and he now put out his head and cried
out, 'Here I am, ha! ha! ha!' making the place ring
with his laughter. 'Ay,' said I, 'you are there, are
you !' and, turning toward him, looked him full in the
face, and addressed myself to him in language of rebuke
and warning. I finally told him that if he did not cease al-
luring the youug people into sinful amusements I would
pray God either to convert him or take him out of the
way, and I had no doubt that God would answer my
prayer. The power of God evidently fell upon the as-
sembly ; a divine awe seemed to overpower them. The
guilty man began to tremble all over like a leaf and
turned deathly pale. He finally got up and rushed out
of the house. He went home, burned his fiddle, and we
were thenceforth rid of his interference with our meet-
ings and his opposition in the community."
A PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.
He sometimes had ruder encounters. " I had," he
says, " an appointment to preach in a small cabin, the
family of which was too poor to entertain me conven-
iently over night. I therefore intended to return, as had
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 105
been my custom, about six miles, after the sermon, for
lodgings. I was overtaken on my way to the place
a sleigh, with three men in it. I turned my horse out of
the road and let them pass me, but they no sooner did
'an they stopped and began vociferating blasphemies,
and blackguard language at me, and if I attempted to
- them they would drive on, obstruct the way, and
thus prevent my going forward. In this manner they
continued to annoy me about half an hour, keeping up
an unceasing stream of Billingsgate. I made them no
reply. They at length drove on, and left me to pursue
my way in peace. In the evening, as I rose up to preach,
these three men stood looking in at the door, and as I
was standing at the door-post they closed the entrance,
and were close to my right hand. I requested them to
take seats ; two of them did so, but the other kept his
place. I gave out for my text Dan. v, 27: 'Thou art
weighed in the balances and art found wanting.' In
the introduction to the discourse I made some rem:
about Belshazzar's impious feast ; I enlarged on the
prevalent drinking habits of the settlers, and observed
that there were people who were not contented to drink
in taverns and in their own houses, but carried bottles
•urn in their pockets. The man who still stood at my
* hand had a bottle in his pocket ; he drew it forth,
shook it in myj'aee with an oath, exclaiming, 'You are
driving that at me,' and kept up a continual threat. The
owner of the house, who was a warm friend of mine, in-
:tly arose, with two or three others, all trembling
with indignation, and came toward the offender to -
him and thrust him away. Perceiving their design, I
feared there would be bloodshed, and requested them to
desist and take their seats, for I was not afraid of my
opposer. They sat down, but this only seemed t'» enr
the man still more. He kept on swearing, with his
clenched fist directed at me ; but I continued my dis-
course unmoved by his threats, until T finally called on
106 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the God of Daniel, who delivered him from the lions,
to deliver me from this lion-like sinner, when suddenly
he escaped out of the door and fled ; his two companions
followed him, and we ended the meeting in peace. My
friends, fearing I might meet with some peril should I
attempt to return that night, as it was supposed that
these ruffians knew that I intended to do so, persuaded
me to stay all night. It was well I did so, for these men
lay in ambush for me, and seeing a traveler approach on
horseback, one of them said with an oath i There he is,
let's have him,' and off they went pursuing him, blas-
pheming and cursing him as the Methodist preacher.
They caught him, and were preparing to wreak their
vengeance upon him, but soon discovered that they had
committed an egregious and dangerous blunder. The
assailed traveler, seeing his peril, turned upon them
boldly, and showing a hearty disposition to fight, not-
withstanding the odds against him, and using a style of
language surprisingly like their own, they became con-
vinced that he could be no Methodist preacher, and took
to their heels.* Thus God saved me from these raven-
ing wolves. I blessed his name, and learned to trust
more than ever his protecting providence. No little
good resulted from this incident ; it raised me up many
friends; opposers even became ashamed of the malicious
rowdies, and were ready now to defeivl me. In the
midst of all these strange scenes I enjoyed great peace
with God, I had constant access to him in prayer, and
went on my route rejoicing that I was counted worthy
to suffer for his name's sake. I passed on from settle-
ment to settlement, preaching and praying with the peo-
ple ; the Divine Spirit was poured out upon them, and
many were converted. Some of the neighborhoods were
* This gentleman was a Mr. Hall, who himself related the incident to
Eev. Dr. Fitch Keed. (See Eeminiscences of Itinerant Life, No. 2, in
Northern Christian Advocate, January 1, 1863.) Dr. Eeed's narrative
differs, in slight particulars, from Dr. Bangs's. I follow the manuscript
of the latter.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 107
extremely poor ; in some the people had not yet a single
stable for the accommodation of my horse. I carried
with me oats for him, and, tying him to a tree, left.him
to eat at night, and ate and slept myself in the same room
in which T preached. This I had to do frequently; but
God was with me, blessing my own soul and the people."
AMOXG THE QUAKERS.
He at last found himself among the Quakers, and was
hospitably received by most of them, though some looked
askance at him; their chief objection to him being the
alleged fact that, though evidently a good, self-sacri-
ficing man, yet, as a Methodist preacher, he was a
M hireling." At best the charge could be said to be
but theoretically true of the Methodist preachers of
that early day. He received only about fifty dollars
in the first year of his ministry ; in the present year
only about twelve; and he was now actually using a
borrowed horse, not having funds enough to buy one.
The " Discipline " of the Church allowed but eighty
dollars a year to an unmarried itinerant, and but double
that amount to a married one; and he remarks that
"even these pittances were seldom paid." The Meth-
odist ministry have never, either in that day or in ours,
made any contract for salaries, and have no legal claim
for any deficiency in their " allowance." But these
" Friends " revolted from the slightest semblance of pe-
cuniary remuneration for preaching. They entertained
their visitor cordially, however, and he read with much
interest their standard books, the writings of Fox, Penn,
Barclay, and others. They had a few humble but neat
places of worship in this new country. He took his seat
among them, and for the first time witnessed their simple
devotions. A woman rose and said, "Friend, if thee has
anything to say, we are willing to hear thee." 1 [e wished
to learn more fully their public customs, and replied, "I
have nothing at present to say." At two other times
108 LIFE AND TIMES OF
single texts of Scripture were uttered. At last, according
to their universal custom, they shook hands • as the con-
clusion of the meeting, when he rose, and saying "Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," asked permis-
sion to address them. They gladly resumed their seats,
and listened to a warm exhortation on " the Witness of
the Spirit," a doctrine which seemed peculiarly to please
them. " Take thy horse and ride to my house ; thee
shall be welcome," said a good man to him when he
closed. As it was practically the motto of Methodist
preachers to "be instant, in season and out of season,"
and to become " all things to all men, that they might by
all means save some," he continued to visit them in their
various settlements, enjoying their hospitality, conversing
with and exhorting them from house to house, not, how-
ever, without encountering some unyielding prejudices,
and some persistent though good-tempered controversies.
He felt deeply interested for them, and perceiving that
they were losing their spiritual life in this distant region,
he endeavored to recall them to the beet teachings of
their own founders, as well as to the better teachings of
Holy Scripture.
His visits produced no small excitement in their settle-
ments. He met them again in their house of worship,
and it was now crowded, for they expected his pres-
ence. The assembly sat some time in silence. A woman
arose, and, quoting a single text, sat down. JCfter a
few moments of silence the itinerant stood up among
them, and addressed them on the words, "Thus saith
the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for
the old paths, where is the good way, and waJk there-
in, and ye shall find rest for your souls." The text, he
says, seemed suddenly suggested to his mind, as by a
divine inspiration. He spoke from the "fullness of his
heart," reminding them that, according to the journals of
their early preachers, they very seldom then had " silent
meetings," but " found something to say for God ;" that
NATHAN BANGS, P.P. 109
here, in the ends of the world, hardly anything like a
timonjAbr the truth was given in their assembli
that the population around them was perishing; that
their fathers taught the duty of family worship, and
lly spent half an hour daily in it, but that it seemed
■ tglected here, where it was most needed. He
iluded by M exhorting them to walk in the good old
paths of the Friends ; then should they find rest to their
Is." The word took effect ; they " wept all over the
house." Kneeling down, he prayed for them with Meth-
odistic fervor, and was afterward taken to one of their
homes, where many of them came together in the evening
to converse with him. Long discussions occupied the
hours. The " hireling M question especially was canvassed,
for these good people seemed to consider that, funda-
mental ; but when the itinerant explained to them rally
the financial economy of Methodism — that it provided
barely for the support of the laborer ; that this support
enabled him to go out into the world calling sinners to
repentance ; that the Quakers, so far as they sent abroad
-her-, did so on substantially the same plan; and
that all Christians should liberally contribute to send them
till the whole world should hear the Gospel — "they
all seemed to assent, and one elderly woman lifted up her
hands and then brought them down with emphasis, ex-
claiming, 'That is God's truth ; I know it.' The con-
y ended," he continues, "I said, 'I feel
it my duty to pray with you.' ' Thee can pray if thee
said my host. I accordingly kneeled down
and prayed with much liberty, and then retired to
bed. happy in the love of God, praising him for all
his mercies, and slept sweetly under the smiles of his
ree 'Uiitenance." lie soon after left their settle-
ments, and never saw them again ; but he had reason to
hope that his brief mis-ion had proved a blessing to
them.
110 LIFE AND TIMES OF
AT A NEW TEAR'S DANCE. -
On the 1st of January, 1802, he set off to attend some
preaching appointments which he had made along the
lake shore. The journey was to afford him some farther
examples of frontier life. " The roads," he says, " were
bad, most of the country being new and in some places
a continuous forest of from ten to fifteen miles extent.
About sunset I came to a creek, the bridge of which
was so broken that my horse would not cross upon it,
neither could I lead or drive him over- the ice as the
middle of the creek was not frozen, but the current
ran rapidly, nfaking a noise with the broken ice that
frightened him. I went up and down the stream for a
considerable distance in the snow and ice to find a place
on which I might cross. I was more than an hour in
makiug this useless eflbrt. Being compelled either to
stay in the woods all night or to return, of the two evils
I chose the last. I found on my way back an Indian
trader's house, where a number of people were assem-
bled to celebrate the New Year. They were singing,
dancing, and drinking at a high rate. I offered money
if any two of the men would go with me and help me
over the creek ; but no one would consent, for the night
had fallen and it was cold. The man of the house assured
me that if I would stay with him over night I should be
well-treated. I accordingly put up my horse and entered
the house. I declined the whisky which was offered me,
but told the woman of the house I should be thankful
for something to eat, as I had eaten nothing since early
in the morning. She kindly prepared me a good supper."
And now a remarkable but characteristic scene ensued.
"Seating myself," he continues, "by the fire, I com-
menced a conversation with a woman on the subject of
religion. I found that she was a backslidden Baptist.
While talking with her one and another drew near and
formed quite a group of listeners, until finally so many
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. Ill
assembled around me that the dance could not go on.
A large, athletic man now stepped up to me and s;iid,
1 Sir, if you will remain here you must be civil ; you must
not preach/ I replied, 'I am not preaching; but as
Providence has cast my lot among you, I think it my
duty to talk with those who are willing to hear me on
the things that make for their eternal peace. You will
not deprive me of this privilege, will you?' 'Xo,' said
he, 'but we must dance,' and he seized the women and
dragged them out upon the floor, and resumed the dance
with increased ^ilarity. This they continued until nearly-
midnight. I then said to the chief trader, who had be-
come very friendly with me, '"With your permission I
will address a few words to the people.' He assented,
and requested them to give attention. I arose and ad-
dressed them in substance as follows: 'It is now mid-
night, and the holy Sabbath has begun. You have
amused yourselves with dancing, I think, long enough
to satisfy you, if not to fatigue you, and if you continue
it longer you will not only transgress the law of God,
but likewise the law of your country. I advise you,
therefore, to desist an^l retire to your rest.' They com-
plied so far as to cease dancing. But the Indian trader
came to me and said, ' The Indians are encamped a short
di>tance from us, and they expect a dance here as I have
promised them one.' He asked my permission to let
them have it. I replied that I had no control over his
house or the Indians, but if he would dispense with the
revel he would highly gratify me, and, I doubted not,
would please God. He rejoined that as 'he had prom-
ised them the dance they would expect it, and would be
tly incensed if they were denied it.' He then w<
to the door and gave the Indian 'whoop,' and down
came the Bavages and began an Indian dance, which,
with their drumming upon an old pan, their frequent
yells, their stamping and bodily distortions, presented a
spectacle fit for pandemonium."
112 LIFE ATvD TIMES OF
There could be small hope of a serious impression by
anything he could say amid such scenes ; but it was his
rule to lose no opportunity however desperate ; he had
been faithful to the white dancers; he tried now the
Indians. "I requested the trader to assist me in con-
versing with them. To this he assented, when the
chief of the Indians presented himself before me with
great dignity and gravity. I asked him if he knew
whence they had descended. He replied, ' Yes ; the
Great Spirit at first made one man and one woman,
placed them on an island about an acre in size ; thence
they were driven for an act of disobedience to the conti-
nent, and from them they had all descended.' I then
gave him an account of the creation of the world, of
man in particular, of his fall and its consequences. I
asked him if he had ever heard of Jesus Christ. He
replied, ' No.' I then gave him an account of our Lord's
birth, his life, miracles, and teachings, his sufferings and
death. While describing the death of Christ, the chief
pointed to his heart and lifted his eyes and hands toward
heaven apparently filled with amazement. When I had
concluded he clasped me in his^arms, kissed me and
called me father, and entreated me to come and live with
him and be the teacher of his people. After assuring
him of my affection for them and the deep interest I felt
for their eternal welfare, I told him that I could not com-
ply with his request, but hoped the time was not distant
when a Christian teacher should be sent to them. They
then retired to their encampment.
"But the worst of this strange night was yet to
come. There were two traders present, one of whom,
the head man, had become intoxicated and still wanted
more liquor ; the other refused to let him have it. The
dispute ran high, and the drunken trader raised his fist
to strike the other, when I stepped in between them and
averted the blow. He then swore that if he was not
allowed more whisky he would call the Indians and fall
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 113
upon and murder us all. He accordingly went to the
door, gave the horrible 'whoop!' and the Indians came
rushing to the house. Meantime, those within armed
themselves as well as they could with sticks and clubs,
•mined to defend themselves to the utmost. I shud-
dered for the consequences. The enraged man then said,
•Here are my guard- at the door. If you will give me
more whisky, well; if you will not, they shall fall upon
you, and we will murder you all.' 'Will you?' the other
exclaimed, and lifted his arm to strike him down. I again
stepped between them, and placing my hand upon the
drunken man's shoulder said, 'Come, my friend, let us
go to sleep. If you will be my friend, I will be yours !'
He consented. We laid down upon a bed, and in a few
minutes he was asleep. I then arose ; the Indians had
retired to their camp, and at dawn of day I started on
my way, persuading two men to accompany me to the
k and help me over by laying logs on the broken
bridge. I passed on, praising God for delivering me
from the perils of this dismal night and for enabling
me to prevent the shedding of blood, as well as for the
pleasing interview I had with the Indian chief.
OED HEALED.
"I reached my appointment in time to preach that
day, and then went down the lake shore, preaching every
day, and the Lord was with me and kept me in my way
through those wild and dangerous scenes. There was
one society on the circuit in quite a disturbed state. It
- divided by two parties, and many attempts had in
vain been made to unite them both by myself and the
siding elder. One evening I had an appointment
among them, and, while preaching, the Spirit of ( :
tended upon me and upon them; his loi I to
fill and overflow every heart. They were all melted into
tendernea .-, I thought, U a good time to b
about a reconciliation, and accordingly I said to them,
8
114 LIFE AND TIMES OF
c If you are now willing to settle your difficulties, and
forgive and forget what is past, rise up, meet one another
in the middle of the floor, shake hands, and thus mani-
fest your love one to another.' They instantly rose,
seized each other by the hand, some weeping, some
praising God aloud, the women kissing one another, the
men falling on one another's necks and sobbing. Thus
their old difficulties were ended by the healing influence
of the Holy Spirit, and they were bound together as the
heart of one man. I believe that most of the discords
which occur among Christians originate in the absence
of the divine love, from which alone the true love of the
brethren can spring. The best cure of public troubles
in the Church is, therefore, a revival of the personal
piety of its members."
Such are some of the "lights and shadows" of frontier
life, and of the frontier itinerant ministry of Methodism
at the beginning of our century. The inhabitants of this
now rich and flourishing region, with a commodious
Methodist chapel in almost every city, town, and village,
can hardly deem them credible, for the frontier, the "far
West," has since passed to the Mississippi River and
even beyond it. Besides their interest as remarkable or
curious facts, they are not without historical significance
as illustrations of conditions in both social and religious
life which are fast receding, and in a few generations
will be seen no more on our continent.
The faithful evangelist continued to brave the hard-
ships of this field of labor until the next Conference, when
he was appointed to the Bay of Quinte, one of the earliest
circuits of Canada, and the scene of recent and extraor-
dinary religious interest. He records as an instance of
the kindness of his brethren on the Niagara circuit, his
" spiritual birthplace," that at the suggestion of Joseph
Jewell, his presiding elder, they contributed money
enough to purchase a horse for him, on which he rode
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 115
off to the adventures of his new field. "I received him,"
lie thankfully writes, "as a gift from the Lord, for I had
been riding a borrowed one from the time at which
mine had died. He was the best I have ever owned, and
carried me safely thousands of miles, sharing my suffer-
ings in the heats of summers and the terrible blasts of
those northern winters."
He left the circuit in general prosperity. One year
before it reported three hundred and twenty members;
it now reported six hundred and twenty, and Long
Point, the chief field of his labors, was recognized at the
conference'of 1802 as a distinct circuit. About a hund-
red souls had been converted in Burford and Oxford
through his instrumentality, and in our day his name is
still a household word in the Methodist families of that
region. Few who knew him remain ; yet the descendants
of his old hearers, living no longer in log-cabins, but in
comfortable if not opulent homes, worshiping no longer
under trees or in barns, but in convenient temples, have
learned from their pious and departed fathers to revere
him as the pioneer champion of the cross among their
earlv settlements.
116 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER IX.
BAY OF QUINTE CIRCUIT.
It was not usual at that early day for the young
preachers to attend the Annual Conferences. The jour-
ney from remote circuits to the place of the session was
long and expensive, and the scattered societies needed
the continuous attention of some of the laborers. Jewell,
the presiding elder of the whole Canadian field, bore,
therefore, its reports to the Conference ; while most, if
not all, the circuit preachers remained at their posts
till his return with their new appointments.
The session was held in New York city in the first
week of June, 1802. Nathan Bangs was there desig-
nated, with Joseph Sawyer and Peter Vannest, to the
Bay of Quinte circuit. Of his new field he says, "I
found myself agreeably situated among a people deeply
experienced in religion, remarkably kind and attentive to
all my wants ; and, in addition to all my other comforts,
I had the satisfaction of being under the oversight of my
spiritual father, Joseph Sawyer, whom I loved and ven-
erated as one of the best of men. This region had also
been the scene of the labors of some of the most holy
men the world ever saw.
A POWERFUL PREACHER.
" Among others, Hezekiah Calvin Wooster had sound-
ed the alarm through these forests, and many were the
anecdotes that I heard of him among the people, who
delighted to talk of him. He was indefatigable in his
labors, ' full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' and preached
with the 'demonstration of the Spirit and of power.'
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 117
lie professed and enjoyed the blessing of sanctification,
ami was. therefore, a man of mighty faith ami prayer.
The people never tired of telling of the power of his
word — how that sinners could not stand before him, but
would either rush out of the house or fall smitten to the
floor. I never found so many persons, in proportion to
their number, who professed and exemplified the * per-
fect love' of God, as he had left on this circuit."
The name of this powerful preacher has already oc-
curred in these pages ; it appears frequently in the early
Methodist publications, but only in passing allusions.
The extreme winters of the Canadian climate were too
severe for his delicate frame; but he wTould not desert
the field till advanced pulmonary disease compelled him
to cease preaching. Hopeless of any further health, he
returned to his parental home to die amid his kindred.
I have discovered a single glimpse of him, on his route
homeward, in the journal of Lorenzo Dow. That eccen-
tric man had been laboring sturdily on extensive circuits
in New England. Through all his wandering course he
carried with him a profound religious solicitude, not un-
mixed, perhaps, with the infirmities of partial insanity ;
and amid apparent ebullitions of humor his spirit hungered
and thirsted after God. He writes in his own unpolished
but explicit style as follows: "When I was on the Orange
circuit I fell in with T. Dewey, on Cambridge circuit.
He told me about Calvin Wooster in Upper Canada —
that he enjoyed the blessing of sanctification. I felt a
great desire arise in my heart to see the man, if it might
be consistent with the divine will ; and not long after I
heard he was passing through the circuit and going homo
to die. I immediately rode five miles to the house, but
found he was gone another five miles further. I went
into the room where he was asleep; he appeared t<> me
more like one from the eternal world than like one of my
fellow-mortals. I told him when he awoke who 1 WBB
and what I had come for. Said he, 'God has convicted
118 LIFE AND TIMES OF
you for the blessing of sanctification, and that blessing
is to be obtained by the simple act of faith in the same
manner as the blessing of justification.' I persuaded him
to tarry in the neighborhood a few days ; and two even-
ings later, after I had done preaching, he spoke, or rather
whispered out an exhortation, as his voice was so broken
in consequence of praying in the air in Upper Canada,
where from twenty to thirty were frequently blessed at
a meeting. He told me that if he could get sinners
under conviction, crying for mercy, they would kneel
down, a dozen of them, and not rise till they found
peace ; ' for,' said he, ' we did believe God would bless
them, and it was according to our faith.' At this time
he was in a consumption, and a few weeks after expired.
While whispering out the above exhortation, the power
which attended it reached the hearts of the people, and
some who were standing and sitting fell like men shot
on the field of battle ; and I felt it like a tremor running
through my soul and every vein, so that it took away my
limb power and I fell to the floor, and by faith saw a
greater blessing than I had hitherto experienced ; or, in
other words, felt a divine conviction of the need of a
deeper work of grace in my soul — feeling some of the
remains of the evil nature, the effect of Adam's fall, still
remaining, and my privilege to have it eradicated or
done away. My soul was in an agony — I could but groan
out my desires to God. Wooster came to me and said,
4 Believe the blessing is now.' No sooner had the words
dropped from his lips than I strove to believe the bless-
ing mine now with all the powers of my soul ; then the
burden dropped from my mind, and a solid joy and a
gentle running peace filled my soul. From that time to
this I have not had the ecstasy of joy or a downcast
spirit as formerly, but more of an inward, simple, sweet
running peace from day to day, so that prosperity or
adversity doth not produce the ups and downs as for-
merly ; but my soul is more like the ocean, while its sur-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 119
face is uneven by reason of the boisterous wind, the
bottom is still calm ; so that a man may be in the midst
of outward difficulties, and vet the center of the soul
may be calmly n God."
Such was the influence of Wooster on this wayward
but energetic man — such the power of his eloquence
whispered from lips blanched with mortal disease. He
ised on to his home and lay down to die; but before
his spirit left the body it seemed already in heaven. He
was asked when his power of utterance was almost gone
if his confidence in God was still strong. " Strong !
strong!" was his whispered but exulting reply. When
he was fast declining, and death was almost in view, he
exclaimed that "the nearer he drew to eternity, the
brighter heaven shined upon him."
OTHER ITINERANTS.
"Here," continues Dr. Bangs, "I became acquainted
with Darius Dunham, the first presiding elder of the dis-
trict, and of whom I had heard much in connection with
the labors of Wooster. On this circuit, at a quarterly
conference, Dunham received, under a prayer of AVoos-
ter, the ' baptism of fire.' This was a most happy
event, for while Wooster was spreading the flame on
O-wegatchie circuit, and afterward on that of the Bay
of Quinte, Dunham, being presiding elder, extended it
from circuit to circuit through the district, and great
midtitudes were awakened and converted. It spread
not only through Upper Canada, but ran in its cod
into the United States. Many preachers caught the
sacred inspiration. Among others Elijah Woolsey. a
man of s pint, who was at that time itinerating
in Canada, and who was greatly blessed in his labors
may be seen from his 'Lights and Shadows of the Itin-
era: me a proverbial Baying am
the people along the way from Canada to the seat of the
New York Conference, that the northern -preachers
120 LIFE AND TIMES OF
brought the Canada fire with them.' This Canada fire
was none other than the flame of sanctifying grace,
which then spread like a conflagration over the Canada
SEVERE ILLNESS.
He pursued his labors on this circuit with much suc-
cess till the autumn, when the typhus fever broke out
and raged as an epidemic through most of the settle-
ments. In some of them it prevailed so generally that
there remained not persons enough in health to take
care of the sick. Many perished, but the preacher held
on his course, ministering to the diseased and dying, till
he himself was seized with the pestilence. About the
middle of December he was compelled to give up his
labors and take to his bed. He was thoroughly medi-
cated, but the medical skill of the country was yet very
imperfect, and it was still the day in which, contrary to
the imperative and instinctive dictate of nature, cold
water, the best relief in febrile disease, was scrupulously
denied to the languishing patient. In three days after
his attack he became delirious. His paroxysms were
sometimes so violent that it required three men to hold
him in his bed. He demanded water, but it was denied
him. The intensity of the disease not only deranged his
reason, but beclouded his religious feelings. At times
he was in spiritual ecstasy, but his raptures were fol-
lowed by the deepest dejection, in which he says, "Any
duty I had neglected, or any cross I had shunned, came
vividly to my recollection. I mourned, prayed, and ex-
pressed my doubts and fears to the friends who attended
me. They endeavored to comfort me by reminding me
of the goodness of God in blessing me so often, but these
considerations afforded me no relief. I pleaded for con-
solation in the name of Christ, and help came at last.
To record all the wild experiences of a mind bewildered
by a burning fever would afford no satisfaction, but there
D.D. 121
is an important lesson to be learned from this example
of the effect of disease on religions feeling; suffering
saint* should understand it well, and so should also their
ministering friends, who often suffer keenly by sympathy
in Bnch cases. The clouds which obscure the sun do not
extinguish him. Many things that occurred in this trial
1 should have never known had I not been informed of
them by my attendants, who tenderly watched over me
in my anguish ; but some things I remember as distinctly
my events of my life. This I know, that after being
delivered from my mental distress, I was extremely
happy in God, and desired to depart and be wTith Christ.
So low was I that the people were called in twTice or
thrice to see me die."
COLD WATER.
Nature at last prevailed over the fallacies of his phy-
ins and attendants. He demanded cold water inces-
santly, and threatened to rise up and leave the house if
it were longer withheld from him. " I accordingly arose
from the bed," he writes, "dressed myself, put on my
overcoat, hat, and mittens, and tottered to the door, which
they had so fastened that I could not open it. Seeing a
pail of water standing upon a bench in the room, I
ed hold of it, but, alas ! I had not strength to lift it,
and dare not stoop down to drink, for I w7as so weak I
old have fallen prostrate. Seeing me so eager, one of
the attendants approached and lifted the pail to my
mouth, and I drank as long as I had strength to swallow.
This i< the last that I can remember of the scene. The
family told me afterward that I sat down in a chair and
'/ling for water, which was now freely given
me, a- they deemed my life hopeless. I at last told them
to lay me on the bed. I there prayed mightily to '
for hi- b ''ii was now lull of people, lor
. had been called in to see me die. The next thing
that I remember is that the heavens seemed to be open* d
122 LIFE AND TIMES OF
above me, and the glory of God, like a sudden blaze of
lightning, illuminated trie apartment. I uttered aloud
the praises of the Lord until my strength was exhausted,
the people adoring him with me. How long I lay sense-
less after this ecstasy I know not. When I came to
myself it seemed like an awakening from a pleasant
dream. My soul was exceedingly happy, but my
physical strength was so exhausted that I could not
raise my hand to my head, nor could I utter a loud
word, and when I became able to articulate my voice
was like that of an infant. My fever, however, was
gone, and returned no more, except in some slight
symptoms at intervals. I recovered my strength very
slowly, having taken a very violent cold, which was ac-
companied with a distressing cough, and the expectora-
tion of abundance of blood. Most of those who saw me
supposed that I could not live long, but God in mercy
raised me up from the gates of death. O the goodness
of God ! the preciousness of the Lord Jesus ! I saw in
my extremity that there is ' no other name given among
men' by which I could be saved 'but the name of Jesus
Christ.' Nothing that I had ever said or done, not
even my best works, though ever so sincere, nor even my
faith or prayers, preaching, traveling, privations or suf-
ferings, could justify me in the sight of God without
Christ. But in that time of extremity I could say in
true faith:
" ' Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress ;
'Midst naming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head !'
" My soul is indeed overwhelmed even while I now,
fifty years after the event, write this account of the
merciful dealings of God to me in that hour of deep afflic-
tion of body and mind — both, indeed, indescribable."
123
HIS "DOUBLE VOICE."
He had been confined to his bed seven weeks and
three days ; three months passed before he could attempt
to preach, and even then his voice was so feeble that he
could hardly be hoard. His friends believed he could
never recover strength enough to resume his labors, and
his physician concurred in this opinion. The- cough and
expectoration of blood, which followed the fever, so af-
fected his lungs that his first attempts to ride were at-
tended with acute pains ; but he persisted, and horse-
back riding was probably itself the remedy that at last
Bayed him. The feebleness of his voice, however, oc-
casioned an unnatural effort to speak loud enough to be
heard, and to this fact he ascribes " that double sort of
voice" which continued through his long life. Many of
his hearers have noticed it as a singularity, and perhaps
condemned it as a faulty mannerism — little supposing
that, like the scarred and mutilated confessors at the
Council of Nice, he thus, in our happier times, and before
our opulent Churches, " bore in his body the marks of
the Lord Jesus," — a memento of the heroic days of our
ministry. This deep, tremulous undertone of his voice,
though usually not agreeable, took at times a peculiar
pathos. How much more affecting would it have been
had his hearers, in his latter years, known that it was
caused by his attempts to preach the everlasting Gospel
through the frontier wilderness when he was apparently
a dying man. Sickness in the family of his colleague
rendered it necessary that he should thus prematurely
une his labors on the circuit. "I went to work," he
writes, " in the name of the Lord, and as well as I could.
I was received as one risen from the dead ; the Lord
- with me in much mercy, and blessed me in soul
and body, and I believe also made me a blessing to
the people. I continued my labors until tin- last quar-
terly meeting, when I left, in company with another
124 LIFE AND TIMES OF
young preacher, Thomas Madden, for the New York
Conference."
EARLY MINISTERIAL SUFFERINGS.
He bore with him from this circuit many precious
memories. More than a hundred members had been
added to the societies, notwithstanding the epidemic
pestilence and the disablement of the preachers. He
records with gratitude the faithful attentions of the peo-
ple to him ; their liberality in paying for his physician
and medicines, and what was rare in that day, not only
on the frontier, but everywhere, their full payment of his
"Quarterage" at the end of the year — twenty dollars
for the quarter, eighty dollars for the year ! He alludes
to the sufferings of his brethren of those times, occasioned
by deficits in such payments, and to the great loss which
the Church had to endure by their necessary "location"
or their premature deaths, caused both by their excessive
labor and deficient support. The growth of their
families, or the prostration of their health by labor and
privation, compelled many of them to " locate," or " de-
sist from traveling." Of two hundred and eighteen,
classed, by a historian of Methodism, as the " first race
of Methodist preachers" in England, more than half (one
hundred and thirteen) retired from the itinerancy, nearly
all of them for such reasons. The itinerants in America
suffered still more. Of six hundred and fifty who had
been recorded in the Minutes in the United States by
the end of the last century, about five hundred died
" located," and many of the remainder were a longer or
a shorter interval in the "local" ranks, but were able to
resume their travels. The early American Conference
records show a host of martyrs ; nearly half of those
whose deaths are recorded fell before they were thirty
years old ; about two thirds died after twelve years' serv-
ice, and a majority of the " first race of Methodist
preachers" in England, who died in the itinerancy, fell
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. L26
prematurely, victims to their hard work. In America
they suffered not only from excessive labors, but by the
exposures incident t<> a new country, and the severities
of a variable climate; wilting under the heats of the
south or the wintry storms of the north, swimming
una, braving snows, sleeping but partially sheltered
in frontier cabins* or under the trees of the forest. AW
have had sufficient proofs of these sufferings already in
the life of Xathan Bangs, but more remain.
REVISITS HIS HOME.
He had never yet met in a Methodist annual confer-
ence, and departed with eager expectation to see an
mbly of his fellow-laborers, and especially their
great leader, the model and representative man of them
all — Asbury. He had some money in his pocket, and a
staunch war-horse, the gift of his brethren on Niagara
at ; and though still feeble in health, yet ardent with
the characteristic chivalry of the itinerancy, he went
with the determination to offer himself as a missionary
for the still remoter region of the River Thames. His
route was across the whole state of Xew York, but he
forward cheerfully. His filial affection turned
him aside to visit his family, for he had not seen his
parents during five years. c;I prayed much," he writes,
at the Lord would make my visit a blessing to my
friends. They all received me joyfully. As my father
- in the field, I went out to find him, and met him on
the way, but was so overcome that I could not speak
for some time. After recovering myself, I spoke a few
words, and then asked him if I might preach in his house
ning. lie save his consent. Word being sent
around, the hoi;- led at an early hour, and my
lather, who was much prejudice the M '
.pied an adjoining room. 1 gave o il the follow
• ( me and hear all ye that pass by, and I will
declare what he hath done for my soul.' After a brief
126 LIFE AND TIMES OF
introduction, I related my Christian experience, and God
abundantly blessed my soul, and enlarged my heart, and
gave me liberty of utterance. When I concluded my
sermon, I asked if any one was present who would close
the meeting, and who should arise but my eldest brother
Joseph, who had been made a partaker of divine grace
in my absence, and who was now a ricensed exhorter.
We had a ' time of refreshing from the presence of the
Lord,' and my soul truly exulted in God my Saviour. I
preached a number of times in the neighborhood and the
adjacent settlements, and my honored father had his prej-
udices so far removed that he followed me ; and many
of my former acquaintances, who never before heard a
Methodist preacher, came to hear me. I went also to
the East Branch of the Delaware River, where I had
formerly resided about three years. Information having
been given of my coming, many of my old companions
in sin came to hear, and, I suppose, to see 'if any good
thing could come out of Nazareth.' After preaching, I
related my experience, and pointed to many old facts
with which they were well acquainted. They seemed to
be much affected, and while the people of God rejoiced,
and my own soul was much refreshed, solemnity seemed
to rest on all present."
THE GAKRETTSON HOMESTEAD.
Taking reluctant leave of his family and old friends, he
resumed his course toward the Conference. He paused
for a brief rest at the mansion of Freeborn Garrettson,
on the Hudson, near Rhinebeck, and records his delight
at the beautiful scenery of the vicinity, and the sanctified
comforts and hospitality of the family. He had read,
and received inspiration from the published journals of
the patriarchal itinerant, and now listened with deep in-
terest to his conversation, sharing its rich lessons and
romantic incidents with a number of preachers, who,
like himself, had found there a brief resting-place on
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 127
their way to the Conference. He alludes with admira-
tion to the wife of Garrettson, that "elect lady," the
personal friend of Washington, Hamilton, and Jay, and
correspondent of Lady Washington. The daughter of an
opulent and distinguished family, and endowed with
rare accomplishments, with wealth and every youthful
hope of fashionable life, this noble woman had discovered
in Methodism the sterling doctrines of the Gospel, and
embraced them courageously, notwithstanding any ap-
parent incompatibility of the social character of the new
Feet with her own social position. She died in 1849,
after a pilgrimage of more than ninety-six years, which
had been distinguished by one of the most beautiful de-
velopments of character and most useful lives known in
the records of female piety. Their residence on the
eastern shore of the Hudson still remains, amid one
of the most charming pictures of that beautiful scenery .
It continues to be as it was in Garrettson's day, a temple
for the neighborhood, and an asylum of hospitality,
especially to Methodist preachers, who are ever wel-
comed at its door with the benediction, " Come in, thou
*a ed of the Lord." While Garrettson sheltered his
family in this rural retreat, it was but his headquarters,
whither he resorted for occasional repose — not to escape
from his duties. His stations were sometimes as remote
from it as Philadelphia ; and he retired permanently to
it only when age compelled him to give up his minis-
terial labors. Some thirteen or fourteen years before
this visit, when Methodism had reached beyond Xew
York city, only as far as Westchester, Garrettson was
conimissioned by Asbury to explore the extended region
of tl a, and twelve young preachers were assigned
to him. He knew little or nothing of the vast field, but
in a dream it to open before him — a magnificent
on — "the whole north country as far as Lake.* Cham-
plain.'1 He designated hi- band of laborers to vari
posts, and traveled himself over the whole region. Now
128 LIFE AND- TIMES OF
his own home was in one of its most attractive localities,
the headquarters of flourishing circuits, and in our day
the shores of the nohle river are studded with Method-
ist societies and chapels. The intimacy which young
Bangs thus formed with the Garrettson household lasted
through his life. He often returned to it as to a social
sanctuary, and became the biographer of its patriarch —
a man who was one of the chief founders of Methodisn
from Virginia to Nova Scotia.
BISHOP ASBURY.
They arrived at Newr York in time for the Conference,
which was held in June, 1804. "I was gratified," he
writes, " at seeing so many of the preachers, especially
Bishop Asbury, whose venerable aspect and dignified
manners filled me with admiration. I noticed, however,
that his preaching was quite discursive, if not discon-
nected, a fact attributed to his many cares and uninter-
mitted travels, which admitted of little or no study ; but
his manner was singularly imposing ; he was grave and
commanding, his voice sonorous, and his delivery at-
tended with peculiar force and majesty. He seemed
like a great military commander who had been crowned
by many victories. He slid from one subject to another
without system. He abounded in illustrations and anec-
dotes. I got a very exalted opinion of him, though I was
somewhat disappointed in his preaching. My reverence
for him was profound ; he represented the whole Church,
for he was its chief minister and its chief laborer. In
the Conference he presided with great wisdom, dis-
patch, and dignity, and treated the young preachers as
a father." Asbury was now bat about fifty-seven years
old, but had lived the lives of half a score of ordinary
men ; his brow was indented, his face weather-worn, his
locks gray, and his aspect was that of a septuagenarian ;
no man in the ecclesiastical history of the New World
had labored and suffered as he had, and none had
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 129
achi ater results. The growing host of itinerant
preachers beheld him with admiration and wonder, as he
hastily passed over his long routes — meeting them ever
and anon for a few days, and then disappearing on the
frontier or in the distant north or south — night and day
sounding the trumpet of the Gospel, and hastening for-
ward as if the final judgment were about to break upon
the world.
OKDIXATIOX.
Nathan Bangs had now passed through the two years
of probation in the ministry required by the Discipline of
the Church. He was, therefore, received into full mem-
bership and ordained a deacon, and two days later he
was ordained a presbyter, contrary to the. customary
course of the Church, which requires a further candidacy
of two years for the latter function. This exceptional
proceeding was highly complimentary to him ; it was
justified not only by his faithful services in Canada, but
by the fact that he appeared before the Conference as a
volunteer missionary to the settlements on the River
Thames, where he might need authority for the consecra-
tion of the sacraments. He was deeply affected by the
solemnity of the ordination service. "It was," he says,
" a precious season to myself, and, I believe, to others also.
When my name was called in the Conference I was reclin-
ing on a seat in the back part of the church. After my
liding elder had favorably represented me, Bishop
Asbury remarked, with his ringing, military voice, 'He
tched in this [John-street] church yesterday ; he
ematic.' This 1 thought a curious objec-
tion. It was not meant, however, as :i serious chai
and I was cordially elected.'1 He had probably been em-
barrassed in appearing for the first time in the pulpit
Confei ' • ■. and had detailed the "skelefc
of hi too minutely, without clothing it with
sufficient nerve and muscle. " I felt," he continue-, "in-
0
130 LIFE AND TIMES OF
deed unworthy of being united to such a wise and holy
body of men. At my ordination I was impressed with
an awful solemnity, as the bishop's hands were laid on
my head, and he lifted up his strong and sonorous voice,
saying, ' From the ends of the earth we call upon thee,
O Lord God, to pour upon this thy servant the Holy
Ghost for the office and work of a deacon in the Church
of God.' These were the words he used instead of the
prescribed form, and as he uttered them such a sense of
the divine presence overwhelmed me that my knees
trembled, and I feared that I should fall to the floor !"
He thus stepped into the ranks of a host of evangelical
heroes; for the New York Conference at that time in-
cluded such men as Garrettson, Thatcher, Snethen, Eze-
kiel Cooper, Merwin, Hibbard, Ruter, Ostrander, Clark,
Crawford, and many others who were the " giants of
those days." It was still an immense field, including
most of the state of New York, large western portions
of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and all the
circuits of Canada. At the close of the session he
mounted his horse and set off for the River Thames,* a
region still impenetrated by the Methodist itinerants.
Thither let us now follow him.
* I have followed his manuscript mostly, in names and dates, rather
than the printed "Annual Minutes;" the latter are often defective.
The Eiver Thames does not appear at all in the early lists of appoint-
ments ; in 1804 the " Eiver la French" is given for it by mistake.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 131
CHAPTER X.
ITINERANT LIFE IX CANADA.
His first travels on the Xiagara circuit had extended
from the Xiagara River westward to beyond Oxford,
more than half the distance between Lakes Ontario
and Huron ; a region then but . sparsely settled. They
deviated also southward to Long Point, which reaches
into Lake Erie, and eastward to Little York or To-
ronto, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. His
second circuit, the Bay of Quinte, was an immense
range on the north-east of Lake Ontario. He had thus
gone over most of the region immediately north of the
two great lakes, or rather inland seas, of Ontario and
Erie. We have witnessed the severity of his trials in
these new countries ; he had endured them " as a good
soldier of the Lord Jesus ;" and he would have appeared
justified had he, in retracing his steps to his paternal
home, and to the Conference in Xew York city, asked
for an appointment nearer his kindred and in a more
ial climate, especially as he went to the session almost
wrecked in health. But he went thither for the express
purpose of soliciting permission to throw himself into a
still more westward and more desolate region, a region
noted, at that time, for pestilential disease and religious
itution — the recent settlements on the River Thann-s,
a stream which enters the St. Clair, opposite Detroit,
beyond the north-western shore of Lake Erie.
A MACEDONIAN ('ALL.
While he was struggling and triumphing through the
first year of his itinerancy, he received a letter at Oxford,
xd2 life and times of
from a German Baptist who lived on the River Thames,
about sixty miles from Detroit, urging him to come over
and proclaim his message in that country, then almost
totally without religious provision. He knew nothing of
the writer, but the call seemed like that of the Macedo-
nian vision to Paul, and it followed him continually. He
repeatedly offered his services for the new field to his
presiding elder; but the latter deemed the wants of the
nearer fields too urgent, and his health too feeble, to
justify the mission. He was sent in the opposite direc-
tion, to the Bay of Quinte circuit ; but while he there lay,
languishing, as we have seen, with fever, and his brethren
were gathering around his bed to see him die, he still
saw the beckoning vision in the further West, and, ex-
pecting to rise no more, actually made his will, bequeath-
ing his horse and watch — all the property he had except
his thoroughly worn raiment — to any preacher who would
go to that suffering people. He had prayed for them
incessantly in secret, ever since the receipt of the letter
which called him to them.
After his ordination as a deacon at the conference, he
requested an interview with Bishop Asbury, and made
known to him his impression of a providential call to this
mission. The keen eye of the veteran leader lighted up
as he gazed on the young evangelist. " He unhesitat-
ingly replied," writes the latter, "as if catching the
inspiration with which my own heart was kindled,
' You shall go, my son.' " The bishop presented the
case before the Conference, and ordained him a presby-
ter, that he might go with full powers to administer the
sacraments.
ADVENTUEES IN THE WILDEENESS.
" No sooner," he writes, " was my way thus opened,
than a host of difficulties rallied to prevent my going ;
suggestions about my youth, my want of health, want of
money, the distance — it being, by the route I must go,
D.D. 133
about six hundred miles — and a thousand other obsta-
cles ; hut I resolved, by the help of God, to press through
them all and fulfill my mission. With but fifteen dol-
lars in my pocket I set off, in company with William
Anson and Daniel Pickett, the former being appointed
to Yonge-street, the latter to Niagara. We entered
Canada by way of Kingston, then went up the shore of
Lake Ontario, passing through the settlements where I
had before labored ; stopping on the way and preaching
to the people, until we finally arrived at the head of the
lake, on the Niagara circuit, near the place where I had
preached my first sermon. Here I was to part from my
traveling companions, and proceed alone. My money
was all expended, and I had about eighty miles still to
travel before I should reach my destined field. New
difficulties presented themselves, and 1 knew not how
I could advance any further. I went into the woods,
kneeled down before God, and wept and prayed. Finally
the words came forcibly to my mind, ' The earth is the
Lord's, and the fullness thereof.' I arose with renewed
courage, saying ' I will go in the name of the Lord ; for
he has the hearts of all men, and he can turn them which
way soever he will.' Before I left these parts, one friend
and another put into my hands money amounting to eleven
dollars, enough for my journey.*
" Before proceeding further I visited my sister, with
whom I boarded when I experienced religion. She was
a pious, humble follower of the Lord Jesus. Having
heard that I had died in my severe sickness at the Bay
of Quinte, and having received word of my recovery only
ah' nit a week before my arrival, she was no less surprised
than delighted to see me. This beloved sister was often
itnfort to me in that distant land, and I loved her ten-
derly. After spending a day or two with her. I resumed
* " I deem it my duty to say that the first who gave me anything
rri.s, a pour preacher ; and I suppose he induced the
received hifl reward. "
134: LIFE AND TIMES OF
my journey. Unexpectedly, a young man offered to ac-
company me, and we set off together. August 4th and
5th we attended a quarter] y meeting at Oxford, where I
was refreshed among my old friends, the first-fruits of my
ministry, with whom I now took -sweet counsel about
the labors and trials before me. Departing with their
prayers, we journeyed about thirty miles to Delaware-
town, where I preached and lodged in the last house of
the settlement. My bed was a bundle of straw, my sup-
per, ' mush and milk.'
"August 10th we arose at break of day, took a little
food, and started for a ride through the Avilderness, forty-
five miles long, with no roads, and only 'blazed,' or
marked, trees to guide us. There being not even a beaten
path, we were often at a loss to know whether we were
right or wrong ; but we got safely through at last. The
flies and musketoes were so troublesome that our horses
could not stand to eat, though we stopped in a shady
meadow for that purpose ; we therefore rode through the
woods without any other refreshment for them than what
they nibbled as we passed along. As for ourselves, we
had a little Indian bread and dried beef in our pockets,
of which we partook ; but the water we occasionally
met looked -so black that we dare not drink it. Our
horses seemed as eager to get through as ourselves, for
whenever practicable, they would trot on with all their
speed. We arrived about sunset, weary, hungry, and
thirsty, at a small log-hut, inhabited by a Frenchman.
My tired horse lay down as soon as the saddle and bridle
were taken off. I asked the woman of the cabin if she
could give me a drink of tea, but she had none. Being
almost famished, I requested the man to procure us some
water, which we sipped a little at a time, as if it were
nectar ; we then ate some Indian pudding and milk, the
best food we could obtain. After praying with the fam-
ily, we lay down on a bundle of straw, slept sweetly, and
rose in the morning much refreshed and invigorated in
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 135
body and mind. The poor woman was so kind as to send
early to a distant neighbor, to beg some tea for ns ; but she
had neither tea-kettle, tea-pot, nor tea-cup, she therefore
boiled it in a " dish-kettle" and then poured it into a tin
cup, from which we drank it with more relish than ever
a king drank wine from a golden goblet. I thought it
the most refreshing beverage I had ever drunk. We al-
lowed our horses to rest till about ten o'clock, and then
rode about seven miles to a Moravian mission, a small
Indian village on the River Thames. We dined with one
of the missionaries, two of whom were stationed here. I
had considerable conversation with him respecting their
doctrines and usages, as well as their labors among the
Indians. He was very sociable, and seemed to possess
much of the simplicity of the Gospel. These good men
had much trouble in their work, from the corrupting in-
fluence of the neighboring white settlers upon the Indians,
and it was hoped by them that our labors among the
former would help their mission.
" While here, the Indians were called together for
worship, which was performed in a very simple manner,
by reading a short discourse in their own language, and
. ing a few verses of a hymn. The missionaries and In-
dians treated us with great respect, and seemed to rejoice
in the prospect of having the Gospel preached to the
white settlements on the banks of the river below."
FIRST EECEPTIOX.
After this interview with the Moravian miss ionaries,
the itinerant and his companion resumed their route, and,
early in the afternoon, reached the first house in the white
settlement. "Turning ray horse," he says, " toward the
fence, before the door, I saw a man in the yard, and after
the customary salutations I said. 'Do you want the G
pel preached here?5 After looking at me with curious
ear:, I. • ires, that we <!<>: do you preach
the I • ii,, I answered. ' Well then,' said he,
136 LIFE AND TIMES OF
1 get down and come in.' I replied, ' I have ridden
a great distance to preach in this region ; it is now
Saturday afternoon ; • to-morrow being the Sabbath, I
must have a place to preach in before I alight from my
horse.' He deliberated a few moments, and then said,
CI have a house for you to preach in, victuals and lodging
for yourself, and provender for your horse, and you shall
be welcome to them all if you will come in.' I remarked,
'I have one more request to make. There is a young
man a little behind me, who has accompanied me through
the woods : will you entertain him too ?' ' By all means,'
he answered. ' This first interview in my new sphere of
labor pleased me much. ' God has made my way plain
thus far,' I said to myself, i and therefore I will praise
him.'
A FRONTIER MEETING.
" This man took his horse and rode through the settle-
ment for ten miles, notifying the people that there would
be preaching at his house on Sunday morning, at ten
o'clock. At the appointed hour the house was crowded.
T commenced the service by remarking that ' When a
stranger appears in these new countries the people are
usually curious to know his name, whence he comes,
whither he is bound, and what is his errand. I will try
to satisfy you in brief. My name is Nathan Bangs. I
was born in Connecticut May 2, 1778. I was born again
in this province, May, 1800. I commenced itinerating as
a preacher of the Gospel in the month of September, 1801.
On the 18th of June, the present year, I left New York
for the purpose of visiting you, of whom I heard about
two years ago, and after a long and tedious journey I
am here. I am bound for the heavenly city, and my er-
rand among you is to persuade as many as I can to go
with me. I am a Methodist preacher ; and my manner of
worship is, to stand while singing, kueel while praying,
and then I stand while I preach, the people meanwhile
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 137
Bitting. As ninny of you as see fit to join me in this way
can do BO, and others may choose their own method.' I
then road a chapter in the Bible, alter which I gave out
a hymn. When the young man who accompanied
stood up to sing, they all rose, men, women, and chil-
dren. "When I kneeled in prayer, they all kneeled down;
siuh a sight I never saw before. I then read for :ny
text, ' Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord.' In explaining and
enforcing these words, I felt that my divine Master was
with me in truth and power ; every cloud was dispelled
from my mind, and my heart overflowed with love for
these people. I believe I preached with 'the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven.' When I had concluded, I in-
formed them of our manner of preaching, the amount of
quarterage we received, and the way in which it was
collected. I then said, 'All of you who wish to hear any
more such preaching, rise up.' They all rose, every
man, woman, and child. I then notified them that in
two weeks, God willing, they might expect preaching
again, and closed the meeting. Thus was my circuit '
begun.
SALUTATIONS.
" After seating myself, an elderly man approached, and
offering his hand with much affection, asked me if I knew
Bishop Asbury. I said ' Yes,' and then asked him if lie
knew him, to which he replied in the affirmative. He was
from the state of Xew Jersey, had been there a member
of our Church, had frequently entertained the preachers,
and among others, the bishop; but he had been in this
country about seven year-, totally destitute of the ordi-
nances of the Gospel, for there was no minister of any
order in all this region. I asked him how far lie lived
from that place. He replied. • Ten miles, down the river.'
' Will you allow me to preach in yo He joy-
138 LIFE AND TIDIES OF
fully replied in the affirmative. 'Have you any sons
here with you ?' ' I have one,' said he. ' Let him mount
his horse, ride immediately home, and notify the people
that I will preach at your house at three o'clock this
afternoon ; you stay and dine with me, and then we will
ride on together.' He did so, and when we arrived the
house and yard were full of people, to whom I preached
with lively satisfaction. Among others present, I ob-
served a veteran man with a long beard. At the close of
the meeting he was introduced as Mr. Messmore, a Ger-
man Baptist. He was the person who had written to me
the letter about two years before, inviting me to come in-
to this neglected country. The next day I preached at his
house, about twenty-one miles distant. Thus did God help
me, and open my way. I felt that I was in the order of
his providence. Such a sweetness of soul I enjoyed, such
a liberty and unction in preaching, as plainly indicated
that I was under his guidance, and his smile seemed to
light up the wilderness before me. The next day, in
company with Mr. Messmore, I rode ten miles and
preached in the house of an Indian woman, the widow
of a French Canadian, who had left her considerable
property. She was a good, simple-hearted, earnest crea-
ture, and reminded me of the Shunamite, for she prepared
for me, in an upper room, a bed, a table, a chair, and a
candlestick. In this room I preached, and ate, and slept,
and no one was allowed to enter it in my absence, except
to keep it in order. She never asked me to sit at the
table with her, deeming herself unworthy, but prepared
my food and put it on the table in my room. She consid-
ered herself highly honored by having the Gospel preach-
ed in her house, and she treated me in this way during
all my stay in that country. When I parted with her
the next day after my first visit, in shaking hands she left
a dollar in my palm. It was much needed, for I was
nearly out of money. The next day we traveled, partly
through a scattered French settlement and partly through
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 139
a prairie. fifty miles, to Sandwich, a small village opposite
Detroit, where I preached in the evening."
lie found there a rude jail, and in it, among other
prisoners, a young man, under sentence of death for
aling. He preached to them all, but most of
them being French, could not understand him. The
young criminal was, however, led to repentance; he
confessed his crime with tears, and died with hope of
the mercy of God. The sudden appearance of the itin-
erant thus brought comfort and hope to him in his ex-
tremity. He clung to the preacher with a breaking heart
st, his only friend. "I could not but reflect,"
Bays the latter, " upon the severity of that criminal code
which condemned a man to deatli for stealing a horse.
Such undue severity, in my opinion, instead of preventing
crime, tends to harden the heart and promote crime."
DETIIOIT IX 1804.
He crossed the river to Detroit, and having a letter of
introduction to a Presbyterian minister, called on him,
but found him in a " backslidden state, apparently des-
titute of the fear of God, neither preaching nor pray-
ing, lie had become a magistrate, and had married a
French Roman Catholic wife. lie received me, however,
with a friendly spirit, and assisted me in procuring the
Council House for preaching. I preached that evening
to a large congregation. The people here were princi-
pally French Papists ; the rest were a mixture of En-
. Irish, and Americans, all as wicked apparent]
they could well be. I left another appointment for two
weeks from that evening. At the appointed time I ap-
I among them again, and while preaching there
ible thunder-storm. The liehtnino; flashed
vividly, the peals of thunder rattled through the hca
like dig >f artillery. I kept on preaching, and
admonished the hearers that this was but a faint resem-
;ce of that day when the heavens shall pass away
140 LIFE AND TIMES OF
with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent
heat. Two young men, as they afterward related, sat
trembling, fearing that the house would be struck and
they killed for their wickedness. They had put powder
into the candlesticks, hoping that it would be reached
by the lights and explode during the worship ; but the
meeting closed too early for their design. They said that
after the sermon was ended, and I took up the candle to
read the hymn, they feared the powder would explode
in my eyes. Here again God was with me and delivered
me. The next time I visited Detroit a Presbyterian
missionary invited me to dine with him, which I thank-
fully did. I found him a rigid Hopkinsian, and he en-
deavored in vain to convince me of what he called my
errors. He treated me, however, with Christian cour-
tesy. He told me that he had preached until none but
children came to hear him, and that he had given up the
place in despair, but hoped I would have better success.
The people turned out so well in the evening that I made
arrangements to give them a Sabbath appointment, but,
alas ! when the time came only a few children made their
appearance, and ' I shook off the dust of my feet as a
testimony against them,' and left them. In about four
weeks the whole town was destroyed by fire."
In his History of the Church he speaks of Detroit as
at that time a most abandoned place. Soon after the
fire it was rebuilt. It has become one of the most im-
portant cities of the nation, and Methodism is now
strongly intrenched there.
REMAKKABLE SCENES.
From Detroit he went to Fort Maiden, and down the
shore of Lake Erie, among settlements of Americans, En-
glish, Scotch, Irish, and Dutch emigrants. He thus com-
pleted his circuit, and continued to travel it about three
months. A more morally destitute region, he says, he had
never seen. Young people had arrived at the age of sixteen
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 141
who had never heard preachincr : and he found a Method-
we have seen, who had lived in the coun-
try - _ .-"li. " But," he
add-. " although the were extremely
rant of spiritual things, and very loose in their
morals, they seemed ripe for the Gospel, and received
and treated ! it attention and
kindness. They treated me as an angel of God ; and as
St Paul said, respecting the Galatians, tied as if
they would willingly have plucked out their own eyes
and given them to me if it could have added anything
to my comfort. Among those whose hearts the Lord
touched were the parents of a German family, who had
with their children that they had all for-
saken their lather's house, and there appeared an irrec-
oncilable enmity between them. The parents, when
converted, made known to me, with many tears, their
unhappy condition, and earnestly entreated me to at-
tempt a reconciliation. After deliberating for a while,
I advised them to send an invitation to all their children,
some of whom were married and had large families, to
come home on a particular day. also to invite a few of
their neighbors to come in ; to have the table spread in
the middle of the room, and inner, all cooked
beforehand, ready to be put upon it ; and to have their
children all seated on one side of the room and they them-
es on the other. I proposed then to preach a ser-
mon to them. At the appointed time they all came, and
I preached on the parable of the Prodigal Son. At
the conclusion I remarked that the Prodigal is repre-
sen: _ first, 'I will arise and go to my father;'
but I said to the children, 'your parents first senl
ad then to the par or children have com-
plied, at your re hey have come at your call.
r in the presence of God, and
here art. Lone.
If you are all willing to forgive what is past, be recon-
142 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ciled, and live hereafter as parents and children should,
rise up, meet each other before us, and shake hands to-
gether as a token of your reconciliation.' They all in-
stantly arose, met, embraced and kissed each other, and
wept over one another most profusely. It was indeed
an affecting scene to all present. When their emotions
had somewhat subsided I said, ' Now set the food upon
the table and let us eat and drink together in token of
friendship.' This was done ; we all drew around the
table, I asked a blessing, and we sat down, ate and drank
together. Thus had the Gospel restored harmony to
this broken circle. They were truly grateful to God for
the reconciliation brought to the household. While
I remained in those parts that house was my home, and
the family treated me as the messenger of God to them.
"Perhaps no part of our country was more subject to
fever and ague, or 'Lake Fever,' as it was called, than
that along the River Thames. It was occasioned by the
stagnant swamps which lie a little distance from the
river on each side, and the unwholesomeness of the water
which the people are obliged to use. The fever began
to rage in September, and, during its progress, in almost
every family less or more were sick; and in some in-
stances every member of the family was prostrated at
the same time. When I first visited a house I was usu-
ally presented with a whisky bottle, and urged to par-
take of it as a preservative against the fever ; but I de-
clined the beverage, and told them I would drink water
and tea, and we would see who should have the bet-
ter health. Though the fever raged so that I could
scarcely visit a family without seeing more or less
sick, I constantly traveled the country in health until
about the close of the sickly season, when I, too, was
seized with the disease, but by timely remedies I escaped
with but two or three paroxysms. This is mentioned to
show the mistaken notion of many people, who suppose
the use of ardent spirits is a preventive of epidemic dis-
NATHAN BANCS, D.D. 14d
eases. Tt is believed that it induces them in nine cases
ont of ten instead of preventing them."
Ili- attack, though brief, was severe; he was delirious
some of the time, but lie found shelter in the cabin of the
good Dutchman, whose family he had reconciled, and to
their assiduous attentions he owed his quick recovery.
He immediately went forth again, preaching and praying
among the suffering people. The fever still raged every-
where. He passed over to Detroit, and found all the
taverns crowded with the sick. He could obtain no
public lodging, but a Christian Mend took him in for a
night. lie returned, wended his way up the Thames, and
•found the settlers despondent and perishing. He met a
large company of Scotchmen fleeing with their families
from the pestilent region ; no less than twenty-one of
their number had died within a few days. Notwith-
standing their affliction, they were drunk and uproarious.
tve them a brief tract on drunkenness; it rapidly
I from one to another, and. produced such an im-
n that their clamors ceased, and he was asked to
preach and pray with them, and parted from them the
next day with their hearty blessings. He was thus ever
ready for his work "in season and out of season." His
activity and boldness made even the rude and hardened
quail, and they sometimes fled before him. One of his
stopping-places was a tavern. As he now approached it
on horseback a boisterous crowd, who were gambling
and drinking around a large table, caught a glim]
him, sprung up in terror from their seal-, and escaped,
some by the windows, some by the back door, and so
expeditiously that not one remained when he reached the
r.cm. "Thus," he writes, "the wicked flee when no
man pursueth." One of them, however, carried away a
salutary impression of the scene. "I am fleeing from
man," he exclaimed, "but what shall I do when Go4
calls me ! I will gamble no more."
144 LIFE AND TIMES OF
PERILS BY WATER.
As he pursued his route he met not only sickness and
desolation, but perils to himself and especially to his
horse, his indispensable companion. The river was high,
and overflowed its banks. In some instances, when he
got over it himself with safety, but much difficulty, the
noble animal, which he says he loved nearly as much as
himself, was carried down the current, and escaped only
by his uncommon strength. After relating several ex
amples of this kind, he continues : " At another time,
having traveled about forty miles across the plains from
Sandwich, and arriving in the night, I made a mistake
by putting my horse down the stream. We had no
sooner entered the current than the canoe swung upon
his back, so that it was carried along by him in this
manner. I immediately requested the oarsman to cease
paddling and let the horse take us over, for I knew the
courage and strength of the animal. I gave him the full
length of the bridle, and he landed us safely on the other
side, though below the usual landing-place. I blessed
the noble brute and thanked God for this deliverance.
"I will relate one more example of a narrow escape in
crossing this river. After heavy rains it rises very rap-
idly. At the time of one of these freshets my horse was on
one side and I on the other. I wished very much to cross,
and went to the ferry for the purpose. The ferryman
was not at home, but his wife said that her daughter, a
girl about fourteen years old, could paddle me over. We
accordingly started, and, as the river was much swollen
and very rapid in the center, and the flats overflowed to
a considerable distance, I requested the girl to take me
above the usual landing-place before she launched out
into the current. I stood on the stern of the canoe and
she in the middle. We finally turned into the rapid
stream, which was filled with floating logs and fragments
of timber. We paddled with all our might, but in spite
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 145
of our efforts we floated some distance below the land-
ing-place, and finally came into the top of a tree which
stood on the flat above the lower bank. I cried to the
girl to seize hold of a branch and keep her feet steady
on the canoe ; I did the same and we held fast. This
gave ns some time to look around, and see how we might
escape. I soon perceived that beyond the tree, shore-
ward, the water backed and formed an eddy, and if we
could manage to get the canoe on the side of the tree
next to the land we should be safe. I accordingly
directed the girl to pull from branch to branch, and do-
ing the same myself, we succeeded in moving around the
tree until we were between it and the land, when we
sprung to our paddles and behold we were safe at the
land. We then went up to the house, the man of which
was a friend of mine, and I got him to take the girl
back, after paying her well for her courageous efforts.
Such are some of the examples of itinerant ministerial
life in that country at that early day."
A NIGHT IX THE WOODS.
As the winter approached he saw that it would be
impossible to continue his travels effectively in this new
region, for the roads were becoming impracticable and
the people were widely dispersed. Some of the settle-
ments were ten, twenty, and even forty miles apart, with
intervening forests, which the snows would render im-
ble. What should he do? "I had," he writes,
"many struggles of mind, and earnestly prayed for
divine cruidance." He finally determined to return east-
ward to the Niagara circuit, and induce some local
to emigrate with their families to the River
Thames, thereby supplying its principal settlements with
men who conld sustain among them the ordinances of
religion, intending to return himself in the spring. Ac-
cordingly, about the middle of November, he set out for
the east. He paused at the Moravian Mission, and had
10
146 LIFE AND TIMES OF
a day of profitable communion with its laborers. Re-
suming his route, he reached the last house — a log hut —
beyond which his way stretched forty miles through the
primeval forest to Delaware-town. Providentially, he
found in this cabin a traveler, bound on the same course.
Mounting their horses early in the morning they entered
the woods. There was snow two mches deep on the
ground ; the streams were high and still open ; the mud
was often up to the knees of their horses; they fre-
quently had to strip them of saddle and bridle and drive
them over the creeks, and then pass over themselves on
logs. The route was somber in its winter desolation.
Night overtook them on the banks of a stream, and it
was impossible to continue their course after dark. They
resigned themselves, therefore, to sleep in the woods.
They had " carried with them some food for themselves
and their horses, and flint, steel, and an Indian tomahawk
for use as they might have need. We constructed,"
he says, "a small wigwam of branches of trees and
shrubs. My companion attempted to strike fire for us,
but his hands were so stiffened with the cold that he
failed. I succeeded with the flint, steel, and a piece of
' punk,' and we kindled a rousing flame, heaping on brush
and logs. It melted the snow, and soon dried the surface
of the ground some distance around. We tied our horses
to trees, gave them some oats, ate some food ourselves,
went to the creek and drank, and then, having prayed,
lay down to sleep in our booth, the stars shining brightly
above us, and the winds moaning through the solemn
woods. After three hours I awoke, and found my fellow-
traveler up and shivering over the fire, which had nearly
burned out. ' Come,' said I, 4 let us get more fuel and
rouse it up again.' AVe did so, and soon were comfort-
able. We then sat down by it and spent the remainder
of the night in conversation. It was a wild, picturesque
scene, and the hours passed agreeably as well as profit-
ably. At the break of day we mounted our horses and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 147
went onward. We arrived at the first house about three
o'clock in the afternoon, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted.
I had no sooner warmed myself by the lire than I fell
asleep. Alter supper I prayed with the family and went
to bed, truly thankful that the Lord had preserved my
life and health through all these fatigues and dangers. I
slept sweetly that night, and the next morning went on
ray way to Oxford. The snow had fallen in the night,
and was so de^ that the traveling was difficult ; but
my horse, Avho seemed a- glad as myself to get safely
through the woods and swamps, trotted on with a brave
heart, so that I arrived at Oxford before night, and took
•sweet counsel' with my old friends and spiritual chil-
dren. I remained there a few days to rest and preach,
and then passed on twenty-five miles further, to Burford,
where I was received as one risen from the dead, for the
man who accompanied me through the wilderness had
gone on before me and had magnified our sufferings so
much that my friends had almost given me up for lost.
We praised God together for his loving-kindness and
tender mercies. Xot being able to persuade any local
preachers to move to the Thames, the people there were
left without preaching till the next year, when they were
visited by William Case, whose faithful labors were
greatly blessed, so that he was able to form societies,
and that region has been a regular circuit ever since, and
hosts of the people have been gathered into the Church.
It was indeed affecting to see with what eagerness they
received the 'word of reconciliation.' Many had grown
to manhood who had never heard a sermon till I went
among them; while others, who had professed religion be-
fore they moved thither, I found in a backslidden state, but
they were glad to hear again the joyful sound of salvation.*'
A STARTLING INCIDENT.
The remainder of the year he was retained on the
gara circuit, among his old friends. His colleague
148 LIFE AND TIMES OF
was the Rev. Daniel Pickett. They labored with their
might, and great reformations followed them around the
circuit. "My own soul," he says, "enjoyed uninter-
rupted communion with God." In some places the
population was still extremely rude, and scenes occurred
which could hardly happen in maturer communities. He
was often opposed, and sometimes interrupted in his
public services, but knew how to turn such trials to ac-
count. At one appointment, " a very hardened place,"
a young woman amused herself and a circle of hearers
around her by laughing audibly. He spoke to her, but
she persisted, when he paused again and addressed a
solemn warning to her. ■ She rose, rushed out of the as-
sembly, was immediately seized with disease, and in a
few days died " in a most alarming manner." " When
I heard of her death," he writes, "I was shocked. It
produced a great sensation among the people ; some said
one thing, some another ; and one man declared he would
shoot me, did he not fear that I was a prophet of the
Lord, and therefore he dare not." The next time he vis-
ited them he preached from the words, " For all this have
ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord !" He reminded
them of the recent solemn event, and admonished them im-
mediately to repent. His word was in power ; the whole
settlement was startled, "and from this time a great refor-
mation prevailed, and in about three months an effective
Methodist society was organized there." Among its mem-
bers was a young lady who afterward became his wife —
the sharer of the sufferings and successes of his long life.
FIRST CANADA CAMP-MEETING.
It was in this year that the first "camp-meeting" in
Canada was held in Adolphustown, where the first Meth-
odist class of the province was organized, in 1790, by its
first Methodist preacher, William Losee, and its first Meth-
odist chapel erected in 1792.* Camp-meetings had been
* Letters of Eev. Anson Green, in the Christian Guardian, (Canada,)
dated February 25 and March 9, i860.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 149
extensively held in the Western United States for about
five years. They originated among the Presbyterians.
They seemed justified by the religious necessities of the
• ier, where there were but few chapels, and where, after
the harvests, the settlers could conveniently travel consider-
able distances from home, and avail themselves of a week
of camp life for religious instruction and social intercourse.
They immediately became favorite occasions ; the scat-
tered population from twenty, fifty, or a hundred miles
around, traveled to them in wagons, on horseback, or
on foot. Some brought tents, some erected booths of
trees and shrubs. The scene, circled with these tempo-
rary but picturesque shelters, in the midst of a primeval
forest, illuminated at night by pine torches, thronged by
thousands of people, varied by a daily succession of ser-
mons, of prayer-meetings, of hymns, which sometimes re-
sounded for miles through the wooded solitudes, presented
a poetic and indescribable interest, and could not fail to
give a profoimd impression to the powerful, though rude
eloquence, of the frontier preachers.
THE "JEEKS."
Remarkable demonstrations of religious feeling attend-
ed these great assemblies. It is not surprising that anom-
alous religious "phenomena" should also attend them.
The memoirs of the early western Methodist preachers
abundantly record these yet insoluble marvels. Hearers,
hundreds of hearers would fall as dead men to the earth
under a single sermon. The extraordinary scenes called
the • a at one of these meetings. They were
rapid, jerking contortions, which seemed to be always
the effect, direct or indirect, of religious causes, yet af-
fected not only the religious, but often the most irre-
Violent opposers were sometimes seized
by them; men with imprecations upon their lips v.
suddenly smitten with them. Drunkards attempting to
drown the effect by liquors, could not hold the bottle to
150 LIFE AND TIMES OF
their lips ; their convulsed arms would drop it, or shiver
it against the surrounding trees. Horsemen, charging
in upon the meetings to disperse them, were arrested by
the strange affection at the very boundaries of the wor-
shiping circles, and were the more violently shaken the
more they endeavored to resist the inexplicable power.
" If they would not strive against it, but pray in good
earnest, the jerking would usually abate," says a witness
who has seen more than five hundred persons "jerking"
at one time in his large congregations.* The nervous
infection spread from one denomination to another, and
prevailed as an epidemic through much of the valley of
the Mississippi.
Prior to the introduction of camp-meetings infidelity
prevailed generally in the new states of the West, the
effect, to a great extent, of the writings of Thomas Paine,
and of his great personal influence in America during
the recent revolutionary struggle. Many wise, as well
as devout men, who witnessed the results of these meet-
ings, believed that they were a providential provision
for the counteraction of the deism and corruption
which seemed to threaten with utter demoralization
that vast country — the seat of future and gigantic
states — and that the astonishing j^hysical phenomena
which attended them were a necessaiy means of ar-
resting the popular attention. The "great revival"
which followed, and which swept over the whole val-
ley of the Mississippi, unquestionably broke down the
prevalent deism, and opened the way for the most rapid
religious development recorded in the history of any
modern people.
This first* camp-meeting in Canada appeared to Dr.
Bangs a salient fact in the history of Canadian Method-
ism. He therefore made particular notes respecting it.
They show that the confusion incidental, if not inevi-
table to such occasions, occurred, but also that " it was
* Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, page 48.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 151
attended by extraordinary displays of the favor and
power of God."
SCENES IN THE CAMP.
Its announcement beforehand excited great interest far
and near. Whole families prepared for a pilgrimage to
the ground. Processions of wagons and of foot passen-
gers wended along the highways. With two of his fel-
low-evangelists, our itinerant had to take his course from
a remote appointment through a range of forest thirty
miles in extent. They hastened forward, conversing on
religious themes, praying or singing, and eager with ex-
pectation of the moral battle-scene about to open. They
arrived in time to commence the meeting on the 27th of
September, though only about two hundred and fifty
people had yet reached the ground. "The exercises
began with singing, prayer, and a short sermon on the
text ' Brethren, pray.' Several exhortations followed,
and after an intermission of about twenty minutes another
sermon was delivered on ' Christ, our wisdom, righteous-
ness, sanctifi cation, and redemption.' Some lively ex-
hortations again followed, and the Spirit of the Lord
seemed to move among the people. After an interrup-
tion of an hour and a half a prayer-meeting was held,
and toward its close the power of God descended
on the assembly, and songs of victory and praise
resounded through the forest. The battle thus opened,
the exercises continued with preaching, exhorting, •
and singing, until midnight, when the people retired
to their booths. The night was clear and serene, and
the scene being new to us, a peculiar solemnity rested
upon all minds. The lights glowing among the trees
and above the tents, and the voice of prayer and praise
mingling and ascending into the star-lit night, alto-
gether inspired the heart with emotions better felt thai)
:ibed. During this day six persons passed from
death to life.
152 LIFE AND TIMES OF
" At five o'clock Saturday morning a prayer-meeting
was held, and at ten o'clock a sermon was preached on
the words, ' My people are destroyed for lack of knowl-
edge.' At this time the congregation had increased to
perhaps twenty-five hundred, and the people of God
were seated together on logs near the stand, while a
crowd were standing in a semicircle around them.
During the sermon I felt an unusual sense of the divine
presence, and thought I could see a cloud of divine
glory resting upon the congregation. The circle of
spectators unconsciously fell back, step by step, until
quite a space was opened between them and those
who were seated. At length I sprung from my seat to
my feet. The preacher stopped and said, 'Take it and
»go on.' ' No,' I replied, ' I rise not to preach.' I im-
mediately descended from the stand among the hear-
ers ; the rest of the preachers all spontaneously followed
me, and we went among the people, exhorting the im-
penitent and comforting the distressed ; for while Chris-
tians were filled with 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,'
many a sinner was weeping and praying in the surround-
ing crowd. These we collected together in little groups,
and exhorted God's people to join in prayer for them,
and not to leave them until he should save their souls.
O what a scene of tears and prayer was this ! I suppose
that not less than a dozen little praying circles were thus
formed in the course of a few minutes. It was truly af-
fecting to see parents weeping over their children, neigh-
bors exhorting their unconverted neighbors to repent,
while all, old and young, were awe-struck. The wicked
looked on with silent amazement while they beheld some
of their companions struck down by the mighty power
of God, and heard his people pray for them. The
mingled voices of prayer and praise were heard afar off,
and produced a solemn awe apparently upon all minds.
As the sun was setting, struck by the grandeur of the
spectacle and the religious interest of the crowd, a
NATHAN BAXGS, D.D. 153
preacher mounted the stand and proclaimed for his text,
'Behold, 1U* cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
Him.* The meeting continued all night, and few, I
think, Blept that night. During this time some forty
Qfi were converted or sanctified.
"On Sabbath morning, as the natural sun arose in
splendor, darting its rays through the forest, we pre-
sented ourselves before its Maker, and poured out our
songs of thanksgiving to the Lord of the universe. We
felt that our early sacrifice was accepted, for the 'Sun
of righteousness ' shone upon our souls and made all
within us rejoice. We could sing with faith :
" ' None is like Jeshurun's God,
So great, so strong, so high !
Lo ! he spreads his wings abroad,
He rides upon the sky !
Israel is his first-born son :
God, the Almighty God, is thine:
See him to thy help come down,
The excellence divine.'
" After breakfast, a host being now on the ground, we
held a love-feast. The interest and excitement were
^reat and the crowd so large that while some assem-
bled around the stand, a preacher mounted a wagon at
a distance and addressed a separate congregation. The
impression of the Word was universal, the power of the
Spirit was manifest throughout the whole encampment,
and almost every tent was a scene of prayer. At noon
the Lord's supper was administered to multitudes, while
other multitudes looked on with astonishment and tears.
After the sacrament, a young woman, of fashionable and
high position in society, was smitten down, and witli
bfl entreated the prayers of the people. Her sister
forced her away; a preacher went forth without the
camp and led them both back, followed by quite a pro-
ision of their friends; a circle gathered about them
and sang and prayed. The unawakened sister was soon
154 LIFE AND TIMES OF
upon her knees praying in agony, and was first con-
verted; the other quickly after received the peace of
God, and they wept and rejoiced together. A back-
slider, who had become a maniac, and was in despair,
was brought to the camp. His symptoms were like
those of the New Testament demoniacs. It required
the strength of several men to hold him, especially
while prayer was offered for him. We first besought
God for Christ's sake to restore his faculties, which was
done. He then earnestly prayed for himself, and before
the meeting closed he was not only delivered from
despair, but filled with joy and peace in believing.
"The time was at hand at last for the conclusion of the
meeting. The last night was the most awfully impress-
ive and yet delightful scene my eyes ever beheld. There
was not a cloud on the sky. The stars studded the
firmament, and the glory of God filled the camp. All
the neighboring forest seemed vocal with the echoes of
hymns. Turn our attention whichever way we could,
we heard the voice of prayer or praise. As it was the
last night, every moment seemed precious ; parents were
praying for their children or children for their parents,
brothers and sisters for one another, neighbors for neigh-
bors, all anxious that before they left the consecrated
ground they should be 'sealed' as the 'heirs of sal-
vation.' I will not attempt to describe the parting
scene, for it was indescribable. The preachers, about to
disperse to their distant and hard fields of labor, hung
upon each other's necks weeping and yet rejoicing.
Christians from remote settlements, who had here formed
holy friendships which they expected would survive :n
heaven, parted probably to meet no more on earth, but
in joyful hope of reunion above. They wept, prayed,
sang, shouted aloud, and had at last to break away from
one another as by force. As the hosts marched off in
different directions the songs of victory rolled along the
highways. Great was the good that followed. A gen-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 155
eral revival of religion spread around the circuits,
especially that of the Bay of Quinte, on which this
meeting was held. I returned to Augusta circuit and
renewed my labors, somewhat worn, but full of faith
and the Holy Ghost."
The hardy inhabitants of the frontier could well
enough endure such a week of excitement, of broken
rest, and incessant preaching and praying ; but the camp-
meeting, as now conducted in most of the country, has
been reduced to rigid method. It has its own code and
police, and proceeds with the order of the Jewish Feast
of Tabernacles. The present occasion, though one of
intense excitement, and scarcely intermitted exercises,
seems not to have been attended with many of those
physical phenomena to which Ave have alluded, as
accompanying such meetings in the Mississippi Valley.
Our evangelist, however, relates, with some reluctance,
that he had a partial example of them in his own per-
son. At midnight, on the last night, while an indescrib-
able sense of the divine presence prevailed throughout
the encampment, he stood on a log and exhorted the
people with overwhelming effect, his powerful voice
reverberating over the ground and through the sur-
rounding woods. While stretching out his arms, as if
to bless the wreeping multitude, they stiffened and
remained extended, and for some time he stood thus
addressing the hearers, weeping with them that wept.
He was at last led to a tent, but with still extended
arms. The strange effect continued there, but did not
disturb his religious joy. " I was continually uttering
: the tent was soon crowded, and at a single
utterance the whole group fell to the ground.
" ' O'erwhelmed with His stupendous grace
They did not in His presence move:
But breathed unutterable praise
In rapturous awe and silent love.' "
156 LIFE AND TIMES OF
His arms were now immediately released. His first
sensation he describes as not painful though uncomforta-
ble, " a prickling sensation over the whole body, like that
felt when a limb is said to be asleep ; but this was fol-
lowed by a soft, soothing feeling, as if I were anointed
with oil, and such a consciousness of the presence and
peace of God pervaded me as I cannot describe."
Such phenomena are worth recording for the study
of both theologians and physiologists.
During the remainder of this ecclesiastical year he
pursued his circuit labors with unabated energy and suc-
cess. On the 27th of April, 1806, he "married Mary
Bolton, of the town of Edwardsburgh, Upper Canada."
During the remainder of his long career, this day was
one of the most grateful reminiscences of his Canada life.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 157
CHAPTER XI.
MINISTERIAL LIFE IX CANADA.
Soon after his marriage he departed for the Conference,
which began its session in Xew York city, on the 16th
of May, 1806. He was greeted again by Garrettson,
Cooper, Ostrander, Clark, and other chief members as
worthy of their ranks : a pioneer hero of their frontier
fields. He had now traveled over most, if not all, the
settled regions of Upper Canada ; lie had continued in
that hard field longer than most of his fellow-laborers ;
and, as a married man, was entitled by usage to return
to the states and take a more convenient appointment.
But his fervid spirit longed for more usefulness in the
wilderness. Lower Canada remained yet unexplored by
him, and he offered himself to Asbury as a missionary to
any accessible part of it. He was designated, in the Min-
-. to Quebec ; but the nominal appointments of that
day, especially on the frontiers, were more a convenience
of the Minutes than a restriction on the itinerant. Even
in the older portions of the Church, the term of service
not rigorously measured by the interval between the
conference sessions, but preachers, sent to Baltimore, Phil-
Iphia, New York, often, after six months' service in
one city, passed to another by exchanges which continued
the remainder of the year. He knew the uncertainties of
bad but eighty dollars in Lis pocket, had
a wife and could make no calculations of support from
the to whom he v. _•. Asbury, howe
.oral almoner of the denomination : he
collected funds in his Long routes, and distributed them
at t:. - ;<; the m . Many
158 LIFE AND TIMES. OF
of the early preachers of New England were thus relieved,
and the Canada itinerants could expect similar assistance.
If not successful in Quebec, he could pass to Montreal or
any other eligible point of the country. In fine, he pro-
posed to spend one year more at least in the British pos-
sessions, braving, with its little corps of pioneers, the
trials of their new work.
EN ROUTE.
" Before I left New York city," he writes, " I was at-
tacked by the fever and ague, but, as the Conference had
closed, I concluded to go on. I went in a sloop to Tarry-
town, in the neighborhood of which I had left my horse.
I had not been long on the dock when a man came and
inquired for a sick Methodist preacher. He had doubt-
less heard of me. I found him to be John B. Matthias,
then a local preacher, afterward an eminent traveling
minister. He took me to his home, and he and his wife
treated me with all the tenderness of a father and mother.
My fever soon left me, and on the next evening I preached
with much liberty and consolation. After the services,
who should present himself but my beloved friend and
spiritual father, Joseph Sawyer, with his wife. They
gladdened my heart, and we rejoiced together in the
fellowship of the Gospel. We had been together in many
a severe but successful battle for the truth in Canada, and
it was pleasant for us to meet at this distance, and talk
over our trials and triumphs. The following day I started
on my way, visiting my parents, brothers, and sisters,
with whom I staid a few days and preached several times.
My father had now surmounted his old prejudices, and
heard me gladly. Taking my leave again of them, I
hastened on toward Canada, designing to attend a camp-
meeting on the Augusta circuit, which was to begin on
the first of June. I arrived there on the evening of
its commencement, and was soon surrounded by my old
friends, who received me with great cordiality, and we
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 159
had a blessed meeting:. After remaining with my wife's
father about two weeks, she and I departed in a boat
for Montreal. The voyage down the St. Lawrence pre-
sented many picturesque and some grand scenes, the
mighty river, the dashing cataracts, the ' Thousand Isles,'
all illuminated with the brightness of spring, refreshed
our minds, burdened with anxiety respecting the untried
scenes we were about to encounter. We reached Mont-
real, a distance of a hundred and forty miles, in twenty-
six hours. I remained there preaching till the 26th of
August, when, leaving my wife behind, I left for Quebec
on board of a sloop.
QUEBEC.
"After a voyage of four days, I arrived at this old city
early in the morning. I was struck with its magnificent
site and its strong fortifications, the latter dominating
over the great river and the habitations of the people,
which clung to the sides of the eminence. It looked
hoary with age, a fact rare yet in America. As I
entered it I felt lost, as in a desert. I was totally a
stranger, not having seen a solitary being that belonged
there, nor was there any Methodist society or class to
welcome me. Samuel Merwin, one of our most eloquent
preachers, had visited it two years before, but left it,
despairing of success. I had a few names of persons, on
whom I called and made known the object of my visit;
they received me kindly, and assisted me to obtain a place
for preaching, though I had to do much of this prelim-
inary work myself. As I arrived on Saturday morning,
I was desirous to begin my mission on Sabbath ; I be-
stirred myself, therefore, and on the next morning had a
tolerable congregation, and preached with considerable
liberty. I took lodgings with a friendly man by the name
of Gibson, who treated me with much kindness. After
preaching a few times, such were the encouragii
that I hired a more eligible room for our meetings, and
160 LIFE AND TIMES OF
another to live in, and in about four weeks sent for my
wife, who soon arrived in safety. At this time the pros-
pect was quite nattering, the congregation was large, and
several persons appeared remarkably friendly ; but little
did I anticipate what was before me."
TRIALS AT QUEBEC.
His congregation soon dwindled away to half a dozen
persons. Curiosity alone had prompted the first numerous
attendance. His eighty dollars were at last expended.
"It seemed impossible," he says, "for me to bear up
under my trials. I could endure opposition, and had
been tested in this respect ; but to see no result of my
labors, to be simply let alone by the great population
around me, was insupportable. My mind at times sunk
into the deepest despondence. My only relief was in
prayer and preaching, for then I forgot my desolation.
My money expended, my congregation almost anni-
hilated, among strangers, and fearing the cause I repre-
sented would be disgraced by my failure, I could only
hide myself in God. But the trial did me good. I
learned lessons from it which I have never forgotten.
The keenest suffering of my forlorn condition was that
my wife had to endure it with me; but I thank God
that she bore it better than I did, and became my com-
forter."
Having learned the French language from her mother,
she now taught it to him, and thereby enabled him to
converse on religious subjects with the French inhabit-
ants, who after gratifying their curiosity had deserted
his congregation. He found some relief also in other
studies, having access to the library of a Scotch mission-
ary, which afforded him a few standard books. It was
no unimportant blessing to the Church as well as to
himself that this season of trial strengthened those habits
of self-improvement which afterward raised him to a
prominent literary position in his denomination, and
XATHAX BANGS, D.D. 161
fitted him to be, for years, the ehief defender of its doo-
trines and other interests. He had abundance of leisure,
and his mental Bufferings drove him to books.
Though his discouragements continually increased, he
was not willing to give up his post till he could hold it
no longer. Even when seemingly at this extremity, he
still held on. "I was at last embarrassed," he says,
"to meet my smallest expenses. Having engaged a
man to saw some wood that I had procured for winter,
setting in with great severity, he came one day to
complete the job which he had begun before. Having
no money to pay him, and fearing that if I did not I
should bring reproach upon my profession, I requested
my wife, who could speak French better than myself, to
inform him that he need not finish his work that day.
He replied that he must, as he could not come again.
4 What shall I do ?' I said to myself. After praying for
a while I went to an acquaintance, and told him I had
a favor to ask and he must not deny me ; he must lend
me one dollar and fifty cents, and if ever I should be
able I would return it, but if not, he must wait till the
resurrection of the just and the unjust. Without hesi-
tation he granted my request, and I paid the laborer.
At another time I was under the necessity of borrowing
a shilling to pay the woman who brought me milk.
The weekly collection in the congregation amounted to
about one dollar, and this was all I had to depend upon
for support, after expending all my own money. But
behold the goodness of God ! When he had sufficiently
humbled me to depend entirely on himself, he sent me
help in a way I little expected. I suppose that by some
means information of my reduced condition was given
• individuals, who now ministered to
my i) . and that too in a manner which kept
their liberality from all ostentation, and tlii< made their
gifts the more welcome. A servant would arrive with
the kind respects of unknown persons, with valuable
11
162
LIFE AND TIMES OF
presents of food, sugar, or tea, and sometimes money,
and these from strangers with whom I never became
acquainted. These instances of kindness so overcame
me that I could not refrain from tears, and I would
retire in secret and pour out my thanksgivings to God,
and pray for my benefactors."
AT MONTREAL.
He remained in Quebec, struggling with these difficul-
ties about three months, when, in accordance with the
itinerant usage of the times, and by the advice of his
ministerial brethren, he passed up the river to Montreal,
exchanging for the remainder of the year with Samuel
Coate, who had been laboring there since the last Con-
ference. Besides the moral lessons he had learned, and
the studies which his leisure had allowed him to prose-
cute, he had, at least, opened the way for his successor.
He had secured an humble place of worship, and left a
few Methodists, honest mechanics, to welcome Coate.
The latter, by his advice, " advertised " his arrival and
the place of his preaching ; the dwindled congregation soon
began to increase, and Methodism was effectively founded
in Quebec, and will maintain its stand there, it may be
hoped, till the end of time.
In Montreal he labored under somewhat more cheer-
ing auspices. During the remainder of the ecclesiastical
year he had incessant work and gratifying success.
He records that upon a calculation of his receipts and
expenditures for the year, he found his expenses had
been about forty dollars over all he had received. " I did
not attend the next Conference, but sent my accounts, and
the preachers remitted to me about two hundred and forty
dollars, which put me upon my legs again, as I was not in
debt. This year I was appointed to the Niagara circuit,
about three hundred and fifty miles from home. I pur-
chased a horse and started for my new appointment, but
had not gone over ten miles when I met the presiding
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 163
elder of the Lower Canada District, who requested me to
return to Montreal, as Bishop Asbury had said, when
he read off the appointments, that the presiding elders
might arrange it as thev saw best. After deliberating;
a while I consented to go, and leaving my wife at her
father's house, I embarked, in company with William
ler, a French missionary and most excellent man,
on a scow, loaded with boards and flour, and sailed down
the St. Lawrence again. We had several hairbreadth
a among the falls, and were saved only by all
hands, preachers and other passengers, working with
our might. I hired a room in Montreal and sent for my
wife, and we both pursued, with some success but many
difficulties, our pastoral labors. The society was small
and poor, and I had to grapple with many embarrass-
ments ; but God supported me through them all, and
now, half a century later, I still praise him for his good-
ness to me then."
He had now been about seven years in Canada as a
traveling preacher, and " had visited," he says, " every
city, town, and village, and almost every settlement in it."
It was thought, both by himself and his ministerial
advisers, that the time had come for his return to the
States. He had done faithfully the work of a missionary
evangelist; he had endured his full share of the hard-
ships of the frontier ministry, and had achieved no small
success. He had traversed L^pper Canada thundering, a
Boanerges, through its forests and along its scattered
settlements. lie was the founder of Methodism in many
rs localities where it has continued to flourish, and
where, before his death, it had become the dominant
form of religion, and had intrenched itself in commodi-
instances, in stately chapels. lie may be
called its founder in Q For Merwin had prece
him in that city only il visitor, and after a few
. had left it with- first appear-
ance of its name in the printed Minutes was in connec-
164 LIFE AND TIMES OF
tion with his own name, as its first appointed Methodist
preacher, and it never ceased to appear in the list of
appointments till transferred to the Minutes of the
"Wesleyan Connection." Canadian Methodism must
ever recognize Nathan Bangs as among its chief found-
ers, and the flourishing Methodist communities of Que-
bec and Montreal, as they catch the glimpses of their
incipient history, from the record of his sufferings and
struggles, may well exclaim, "What hath God wrought!"
Methodism has achieved marvels of success in Canada.
"The different bodies of Methodists make, in Upper
Canada, nearly one third of the Protestant population,
and very nearly one fourth of the entire population ; in
United Canada the Methodists are considerably more
than one fourth of the whole number of Protestants, and
more than one seventh of the total population of Canada,
East and West, Protestant and Catholic. The Canada
connection supports a relatively greater number of min-
isters than do the British Wesleyan societies, and it pays
over fifty thousand dollars a year for the support of its
missions."*
* Christian Guardian, (Canada.)
D.D. 165
CHAPTER XII.
HOME AGAIN.
Ix the latter part of January, 1808, he visited with his
wife her father's house in Edwardstown, Canada. Pur-
chasing there a sleigh for the long journey, they soon
afterward departed for the states. " We crossed," he
writes, " the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburgh, then an in-
considerable village, and arrived at my brother Joseph's
on the fourth of March. I rejoiced to find my father and
mother, brothers and sisters, well, and some of them
happy on their way to heaven. I spent several weeks in
visiting my friends and preaching in the vicinity. It
was refreshing to me again to address my old associates,
and I was received by them with increased courtesy and
cordiality. In no instance was I badly treated, except
once on the west branch of the Delaware, where, after
attending a quarterly meeting in Delhi, I came to the
Protestant Episcopal Church, a few miles above, at which
an appointment had been given out for me ; but on my
arrival I found the church closed against me. As, how-
ever, the people had assembled, I stood in a wagon and
delivered my message; some opposers attempting mean-
while to drown my voice by ringing the bell, a useless
attempt against any itinerant whose voice had been toned
amid the storms of Canada.
APPOINTED DT TIIE STATES.
ril 6, the Xew York Conference met in the town
Amenia, Dutchess county, Xew York. I was present,
and was appointed to the Delaware circuit, among my
old acquaintances; my father and mother, and most of
166 LIFE AND TIMES OF
my brothers and sisters, were still residing there. This
appointment," he adds, " was most agreeable to me."
It seemed, indeed, like a grateful rest after, if not a
happy conclusion of, his itinerant adventures and suffer-
ings. But work was the true rest of a man of his active
nature. He felt now more than ever inspired with the
energetic spirit which was pervading the great cause to
which he had consecrated his young manhood. Method-
ism was breaking out like a flood all over the country.
It was everywhere forming new circuits, erecting chapels,
rallying preachers, and gathering adherents. Its hosts
of communicants had grown since the year in which he
began to preach, from eighty-six thousand to more than
a hundred and fifty thousand. Asbury, and most of its
original preachers, still remained, leading on the conquer-
ing army. Many of the mightiest men then in the Amer-
ican pulpit were among them : William M'Kendree, Jesse
Lee, Peter Cartwright, Jacob Young, Isaac Quin, Lovick
Pierce, Philip Bruce, John Early, Nelson Reed, Alfred
Griffith, Stephen G. Roszel, Joshua Wells, Thomas F.
Sargent, Enoch George, Jacob Gruber, Thornton Flem-
ing, Asa Shinn, Thomas Ware, Henry Boehm, Solomon
Sharp, Ezekiel Cooper, Phineas Rice, Daniel Ostrander,
Freeborn Garrettson, Laban Clark, Joseph Sawyer, Will-
iam Case, John Broadhead, Daniel Webb, Martin Ruter,
Epaphras Kibby, Samuel Merwin, George Pickering,
Elijah Hedding, Joshua Soule — but pages could not con-
tain all the names of similar rank. American Protestant-
ism had never seen a mightier ministerial corps : it may
perhaps be said that American Methodism has never since
seen a mightier one. It was, however, the legitimate
product of that singular ecclesiastical system, which, con-
ducted so energetically by Asbury, had providentially
arisen to match the moral exigencies of the New World
at this critical period in our national history. Five of
the men here named became bishops, and it may be so-
berly affirmed that very few of them were incompetent
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 167
to fill with dignity and effectiveness that high function.
Nathan Bangs, destined to take equal rank with them,
intellectually and morally, if not officially, felt as by a
moral instinct that they were his befitting companions,
that their work should be his work, their sufferings
his Bufferings, their God his God. They seemed to chal-
lenge him forward ; and in going to his new circuit,
among his relations, he had no thought of rest or ease,
much less of a permanent home. He was ready to go
anywhere; but the paternal indulgence of Asbury, who
loved him with peculiar affection, induced the veteran
bishop to give him and his young wife a year's comfort
among his relations, now flourishing farmers in that
romantic region. Asbury had rallied him, humorously,
before the whole conference, for his comparatively early
marriage, then a rare event among Methodist itinerants;
but excused him on account of his line appearance and
fine character. " I knew," said the bishop, shaking his
gray locks, " I knew that the young maidens would be
all after him; but as he has conducted the matter very
well let his character pass."
GENERAL CONFERENCE.
He wished to know more of these good and great
men, from most of whom h$ had been shut out by his
long sojourn in the wilderness. An occasion was at
hand on which he could see them in their most important
My, the General Conference, which was about to
meet in Baltimore, and was to be memorable by the
adoption of a virtual constitution of the Church, and the
organization of a delegated General Conference, as its
supreme judicatory. "Four of us," he says, "united,
and. hiring a two-horse wagon, traveled together as far
er, Delaware, where we left our horses in the care
of ex-Governor Bassett, one of the early converts to
i in that state, lie and his lady entertained
DS with truly Christian hospitality, both being deeply
168 LIFE AND TIMES OF
pious. We held meetings in their neighborhood; and
I was particularly interested in the worship of the ne-
groes, which I here witnessed for the first time. These
poor people seemed ecstatic in their gratitude for the
Gospel and their hope of a better life. They shouted
and ' leaped for joy ;' they heard the word with intense
eagerness, and their prayers and singing were full of
animation."
He found Baltimore to be a sort of metropolis of Meth-
odism. In no other American city had it met with equal
success ; it prevailed among all classes, high and low, and
seemed to retain all its primeval life. But he was struck
especially by the imposing aspect of the Conference. A
hundred and twenty-nine preachers composed it, most of
them men of note from all parts of the country. From
the east were Hedding, Soule, Pickering, Ruter, and oth-
ers; from New York Conference, Garrettson, Cooper,
Crawford, Thatcher, Clark, Ostrander ; from Philadel-
phia Conference, Hare, Everett, Chandler, M'Claskey,
Boehm, Bishop, Budd, Bartine ; from Baltimore Confer-
ence, Reed, Hitt, Sargent, Roszel, Smith, George, Wells,
Gruber, Ryland, Shinn, Roberts ; from Virginia Confer-
ence, Bruce, Lee, Mead ; from South Carolina, Randall,
Phoebus, Mills; and from the "Old Western Confer-
ence," M'Kendree, Lakin, Blackman. He had never be-
fore attended a General Conference, nor seen so many
representative men of Methodism together. He gazed
upon them with veneration. " It was refreshing," he
says, "to become acquainted with so many veteran
preachers, who had sounded the alarm through all the
land. I had read much and heard much of their pioneer
labors, but here they were before me. I looked upon
them with emotions which I cannot describe. Bishop
Asbury especially impressed me, in this new scene, with
a sense of his real but simple greatness. He presided
with perfect dignity, and diffused among the preachers a
genuine spirit of piety.'
D.D. 169
WESTERN DELEGATES.
The' western preachers especially excited his admira-
tion ; they had come to the session from the hardest
field of the Methodist world, except the borean region in
which he himself had been toiling, and he felt a fellow-
sympathy with them. They belonged to the "Old West-
ern Conference,*' which now comprehended the whole
untry, from the lakes to Xatchez, and which
had lately been the theater of extraordinary religious
triumphs, of immense camp-meetings, quarterly meet-
gs, revivals. Everyone of its districts comprehends,
in our day, several conferences. One of its circuits, at
that date, bears the significant title of "Illinois," with
a solitary preacher, John Clingan ; another the name
of " Missouri," where John Walker was founding the
denomination. One of its "districts," traveled by John
Sale, is entitled " Ohio ;" another, under William Burke,
bears the name of " Kentucky ;" another, under Jacob
Young, is called "Mississippi." It was afieldfor giants;
and "there were giants in those days" among its Meth-
odist itinerants. Its representatives appeared in the con-
ference like war-worn heroes. They were distinguished
also by their poor attire, made of rude homespun cloth.
William M'Kendree was their leader. After extraordi-
ary labors and successes in Virginia and Baltimore Con-
ferences, he had been selected by Bishops Asbury and
Whatcoat to superintend the "Western District," which
then comprised the whole of what was afterward the
•• W«-tern Conference." He traversed tin- vast district
at the rate of fifteen hundred miles quarterly, six thousand
miles annually, preaching almost daily, and conducting
camp-meetings and quarterly meetings which, attended by
"times tens of thousands, of settler-, were
like battle-fields II<- was now known throughout the West
stic champion, but was still unknown t
than J' I but slightly known in the North generally.
170 LIFE AND TIMES OF
M'KENDREE PREACHING.
The Conference began on Friday. Sunday was a great
day, and the old "Light-street Chapel" was the center
of its interest — the cathedral of the occasion and of the
denomination. "It was filled," says the manuscript
before me, "to overflowing; the second gallery, at one
end of the chapel, was crowded with colored people. I
saw the preacher of the morning enter the pulpit, sun-
burnt, and dressed in very ordinary clothes, with a red
flannel shirt, which showed a large space between his
vest and small clothes. He appeared more like a poor
backwoodsman than a preacher of the G-ospel. I felt
mortified that such a looking man should have been ap-
pointed to preach on such an imposing occasion. In his
prayer he seemed to lack words, and even stammered.
I became uneasy for the honor of the Conference and the
Church? He gave out his text : " For the hurt of the
daughter of my people am I hurt ; I am black ; astonish-
ment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead ?
is there no physician there ? why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people recovered ?" As
the preacher advanced in his discourse a mysterious mag-
netism seemed to emanate from him to all parts of the
house ; he was absorbed in the interest of his subject ;
his voice rose gradually till it sounded like a trumpet ;
at a climactic passage the effect was overwhelming.
"It thrilled," says the manuscript, "through the as-
sembly like an electric shock ;" the house rang with ir-
repressible responses; "many hearers fell prostrate to
the floor. An athletic man, sitting by my side, fell as if
shot by a cannon ball. I felt my own heart melting,
and feared that I should also fall from my seat. Such an
astonishing effect — so sudden and overpowering — I sel-
dom or never saw before."
This "backwoodsman" was William M'Kendree.
Nathan Bangs now knew him, and saw, as he says, in
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 171
his History of the Church, "a halo of glory" around his
head. It had been determined that a bishop should be
elected at the Conference to fill the vacancy occasioned
by the death of Whatcoat. The piety, wisdom, and suc-
cessful labors of M'Kendree had already directed atten-
tion to him as the man for the place. "That sermon,"
said Asbury, "on Sunday morning, will decide his elec-
On the next Thursday he was declared a bishop
by ninety-five votes, the other ballots being divided be-
tween Jesse Lee, the founder of Methodism in Xew En-
gland, and Ezekiel Cooper, who was considered the best
trained intellect in the Conference.
DELEGATED GENERAL CONFERENCE.
Hitherto all traveling elders of the ministry had a
right to attend the General Conference, and the body
was unrestricted in its power to enact new rules of dis-
cipline and even new tenets of faith. The rapid growth
of the Church rendered it necessary that it should be re-
organized on a representative basis. Asbury had advo-
cated such an arrangement for some time. The Xew
York Conference brought the proposition before this
session by a long memorial which had been approved by
the Xew England, the Western, and the South Carolina
Conferences. " When the plan was first presented," says
our manuscript, "it encountered great opposition, and
was rejected by a majority vote. I suppose some voted
against it from a fear that, if adopted, they could never
attend another General Conference, and others were
jealous of their rights, fearing to intrust the affairs of
the Church to so few hands ; while some opposed it from
Bishop Asbury, with whom it was a favor-
ite measure, for, notwithstanding his great merits, he
had his enemies. Toward the close of the Conference,
however, it was reported by a committee in a somewhat
modified form, and adopted almost unanimously, and it
has remained ever since the Constitution of the Church.
172 LIFE AND TIMES OF
That it has been a means of preserving our doctrines and
fundamental system I have no doubt, for had it not been
adopted, with its Restrictive Rules, our doctrine, ' General
Rules,' and episcopal government, together with the itin-
erancy, would have been liable to modifications which
might have been fatal." The "Restrictive Rules," which
form the basis of this reorganization, are virtually the
constitution of the denomination. They render impos-
sible any change of the Articles of Religion; and allow no
change of the General Rules, and no act doing away
the episcopal government of the Church or its itinerant
ministry, except by a majority of two thirds of the Gen-
eral Conference, with a concurrent majority of three
fourths of the members of the annual conferences. A
measure often suggested in later times was proposed at
this session by John M'Claskey and Ezekiel Cooper —
the election of a bishop for each Annual Conference as a
substitute for the presiding eldership, with Bishop As-
bury as general superintendent. "It was largely and
ably discussed," says Dr. Bangs, " by some of the lead-
ing members of the Conference, on each side." There
must have been a considerable party in favor of it at
first, for when M'Claskey and Cooper proposed to with-
draw their motion for it a majority refused their re-
quest. But after much discussion it was defeated.
ON HIS CIECUIT.
It was ever afterward a grateful recollection to Dr.
Bangs that he had been a member of this session of the
General Conference, second only in importance to the
memorable Christmas Conference, at which the Church
was organized. " It concluded," he says, " ' in peace,' and
its members dispersed to the east, the north, the west,
and the south, with renewed confidence in the destiny
of their growing cause." He returned to Stamford,
N. Y., " where," he says, " I had left, at my brother
Joseph's, my wife, and which was included in the Dela-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 173
ware circuit, to which I had been appointed this year.
When I left Canada my health was much impaired by
my Bufferings from various hardships and sickness. Hav-
ing now to travel among the mountains in this rough
part of the country, in a bracing atmosphere, with good
water and plenty of wholesome food, and among the
friends of my youth, my health began to improve, and I
felt the vigor of manhood return. My circuit was large,
being upward of a hundred miles around, and having
more than thirty appointments in four weeks. I deem it
a duty to bear testimony to the kindness of my brother
Joseph, who treated me and my wife with great hos-
pitality. The people, however, were slack in providing
for their preachers, and yet exacting in their demands
upon our labors. I planned the circuit so as to save
three days in four weeks to be at home ; but even this
brief leisure was opposed, and occasioned me some dis-
paragement.
•• Nothing out of the common routine of the labors of
a four weeks' circuit happened this year except a camp-
meeting in the town of Kortright, at which the Lord
was eminently present, and another in Benham, where I
preached twice with lively satisfaction. At the latter,
v others who were present from a distance were
the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, his wife and daugh-
ter, with whom I again held sweet counsel. On the
Delaware circuit I remained one year, and the Lord gave
us some refreshing seasons of "race."
I HABACTEB AS A PEEACHEE.
Hi- brother, Rev. Ileman Bangs, writes tome: "I joined
Iraroh when he was on our (the Delaware) circuit,
3; be v, aed a powerful preacher. I re-
raember that at a quarterly meeting, after tin- presiding
elder had preached, li<- rose and began to exhort; in a
few minutes the power of his word was like an electrical
shock, and the whole assembly rose simultaneously to
174 LIFE AN"D TIMES OF
their feet. He had a notion that it was my duty to
preach, and wrote me a long letter about it, especially
cautioning me not to marry, as that would interfere with
the itinerant work. I was fearful myself that I should
have to preach, but determined not to do so if I could
avoid it and yet save my soul. I was willing to be a
local preacher, but not an itinerant. I drew the infer-
ence from his letter, that a wife would be a sure barrier
to the traveling ministry ; so I determined to marry as
soon as I could, and did take a wife three months after I
was twenty-one years old. His letter so vexed me that
I would not read it a second time for a long while, and
yet I thought so much of it that I kept it for fifty years;
but it is now mislaid ; I cannot put my hand upon it.
Nathan and myself have ever lived in sweet fellowship ; in-
dependent in our own opinions, we often differed, but never
quarreled ; he afforded me many profitable reflections by
judicious criticisms when I was young in the ministry."
His life-long friend, Rev. Dr. Samuel Luckey, became ac-
quainted with him on this circuit, and describes him as
then a man of mark among his brethren — not an elocution-
ist, not equal to others in rhetorical ororatorical attractions
in the pulpit, but pre-eminent for the vigor and breadth of
his mind and the intellectual power of his preaching. " It
showed, to the more discriminating portion of his hearers,
a peculiarity in the character of the preacher's mind, by
which he was distinguished from all others about him,
and indicated eminence in his work as a minister. His
mind was evidently accustomed to elaborate thought.
His mode of preaching was scarcely known among Meth-
odist preachers before his day, and was, in the estima-
tion of his best hearers, an indication of that originality and
independence of mind, which, in a young man, promises
distinction. And there was a something about him — a
moral and mental superiority — which impressed all observ-
ers that he was to be a prince and a great man in Israel."
NATHAX BANGS, D.D. 175
CHAPTER XIII.
ITT>-ERA>T LIFE IN THE EXITED STATES.
He attended the Conference of 1809, held in the city
of New York early in May. The year had been one of
success in most of its territory. The returns of commu-
nicants showed a gain of nearly five thousand. The
ministry had also been effectively recruited. It now
admitted "on trial" ten laborers, among whom were
Coles Carpenter, Marvin Richardson, Isaac Puffer,
Bela Smith, and other well-known itinerants ; while Phin-
eas Rice, Lewis Pease, and ten other candidates, many
of whom became veterans, were admitted to "full mem-
bership." Xathan Bangs was appointed to the Albany
circuit. " I feel it a duty," he writes, " to bear testimo-
ny to the kindness of the people on this circuit to me
and mine. I labored' among them with much satisfac-
tion, and left them with much regret." He was now in
the vigor of his early manhood ; he had found some leis-
ure for study amid his abundant labors, and his intelli-
gence and native intellectual force gave him rank among
the foremost men of his Conference. Many are the recol-
lections of his powerful preaching among the aged
members of the Church who still linger within the lini-
f the old Albany circuit.
CONTROVERSY.
His congregations were large ; but the effect of his
labors did not correspond at first with their diligence
and energy. He consulted with his colleague, [saac B.
Smith, respecting the c comparative failure.
They both attributed it chiefly to the prevalent influence
176 LIFE AND TIMES OF
of -Calvinistic doctrines. Whether legitimately or not,
the popular inference from the tenet of predestination
was that the final fate of souls is a fixed fact, unalterable
by human volition ; that only when an " effectual call "
is given t from heaven can the sinner repent ; that it is
useless to try to anticipate this call ; it will come to the
elect in " God's good time ; " it will never come to the
reprobate : that summarily the man who is predestined
to be saved shall be saved, whether heedful or heedless
of passing warnings, and he that is predestined to be
lost can by no endeavors avert his doom. The most
powerful preaching seemed neutralized, to a great extent,
by these opinions. The two itinerants concluded that
they " should have no revival of religion unless they
could break up these pernicious prejudices." "We im-
mediately began," he adds, " to state and enforce our
distinctive doctrines — general redemption, the condition-
ally of salvation — both in respect to its present experi-
ence and its final retention; the witness of the Spirit,
sanctification, or holiness of heart and life ; and we ex-
posed, meanwhile, the error and danger of the contrary
tenets." Though opposition was provoked by this
course, it tended to " awaken and excite attention ;
many began to search the Scriptures to see if these
things were so. The spell of lethargy was broken, and
the result was a general revival, particularly in the town
of Durham, where my family lived." Even his opponents
reaped advantage from his measures. The Presbyterians
of that town shared largely in the fruits of the new
interest. Nearly all evangelical Churches were recruited.
Liberal Calvinists might indeed gratefully admit that if
he had not refuted their creed, he had refuted perilous
perversions of it, and prepared the people for better
influences from their ministrations.
Toward the end of the Conference year, however, he
found himself beset by clerical opposition, and the Cal-
vinists of Durham challenged him to a public contro-
ATHAX BANGS, D.D. 177
versy, their pastor opening his own church for the pur-
pose. "It might perhaps be supposed," writes the itiner-
ant, "that I took delight in disputation. Farfrom it; I
was led into this controversy against my inclinations ; but
in those times we were peculiarly situated ; the Calvinistic
doctrines held yet an unloosened and almost universal
hold on the popular mind in many parts of the country.
We were compelled to be polemics at times, however
we might prefer to go on our usual course of preaching
the common truths of religion. We found a great diffi-
culty in exciting the people who were under the influence
of these errors to ' seek the Lord while he may be
found.' I could not, therefore, as I thought, and still
think, avoid this public debate without a dereliction of
duty. That God's blessing might accompany it I ap-
pointed a day of fasting and prayer in all the Societies
of the circuit, and I believe that very good effects fol-
lowed the discussion."
lli< early friend, Rev. Samuel Luckey, D.D., who wit-
nessed the debate, thus writes to me respecting it :
" The force of circumstances, on the Albany circuit,
brought him into public notice in the character (as a
controversialist and an author) for which he was after-
ward so eminently distinguished. His active mind,
trained by habits of study and reflection, prompted him
to commence the use of his pen as a means of becoming
more useful to the Church and the world. When he
led Albany circuit he carried with him his port-
folio and writing apparatus, and wherever he could get a
ired room employed his leisure hours in writing. lb'
commenced a work on Christian Theology, and had, it
is believed, made considerable progress in it when he
came to this circuit. These facts are mentioned to show
that he gave early indications of an aspiring and vi_
3 intellect, which foretokened his future eminence.
But circumstances on this circuit culled him out a
V-hampion for the faith he professed, and direction
12
178 LIFE AND TIMES OF
to the exercise of his talents, as a preacher and writer,
which marked his course through all his subsequent
life. Durham, where his family resided, was settled
principally by emigrants from New England, as was that
entire section of the circuit, embracing Granville and
extending to Catskill. The people inhabiting this sec-
tion had been trained up in the faith and practice of the
New England Churches, and had Churches and ministers
among them of the same faith and order. Out of this
class were raised the Methodist societies in these locali-
ties. Many of those who connected themselves with the
Methodists were men of talents and education, who had
separated themselves from their former religious associa-
tions on the ground of doctrine, purely. They rejected
Calvinism, as taught in the Confession of Faith adopted
by the Congregational Churches, with an opposition
bordering on abhorrence ; and on this issue the parties
were in habitual array against each other. There was
no end to the controversies and disputations among them.
The preachers would belabor each other's doctrines, and
vindicate their own, in their sermons ; and the people suf-
fered no opportunity to pass of disputing and contending
with each other on the points of difference between them.
It was, in fact, an age of religious contention ; and the
matter was complicated by the modification of Calvinism
by Hopkinsianism, which, it was claimed by the advo-
cates of Calvinism, sufficiently explained the most objec-
tionable points in their creed, while those who dissented
from them could not see it in that light.
" In this state of things Mr. Bangs disappointed the
expectation of his friends in not following the usual
course of the preachers on both sides, of making the
controversy on doctrine the principal subject of his
preaching among them. In the pulpit he preached the
Gospel as he understood it, in a style and manner calcu-
lated to hold the minds of his hearers to the great funda-
mental principles of evangelical religion. But the contro-
D.D. 179
versy to which the minds of all were alive he seldom intro-
duced or alluded to. No one expected to hear the doctrin-
al controversy which so much agitated the minds of the
people in that section particularly discussed when they
went to hear him preach. But, though not dealing with it
in this way, he was not indifferent to the subject of the
controversy, nor unwilling to enter the arena, in a man-
ner suited to his views, in vindication of the doctrines
and usages of Methodism against all opposition. He
accordingly consented, at the solicitation of zealous par-
tisans, to hold a public debate with such a person as
might be chosen for that purpose, on the points of dif-
ference between the Cal vinists and Methodists. A Rev.
Mr. Benedict, an eminent Congregational minister from
New England, who had been educated a lawyer, and
had the reputation of being a strong man and able de-
bater, was selected for the opposite side. The debate
was held in the Congregational Church in Durham,
which was within a few rods of the Methodist Church
and of Mr. Bangs's residence. The preliminaries pro-
vided that the debate should cover the whole ground of
controversy, contained in what are usually called ' The
Five Points,' each to be discussed separately, in order,
giving a certain time to either disputant, in turn, to state
his points and his argument. Rev. Henry Stead, presid-
ing elder of the district, and a Dr. Hotchkiss, pastor of
the Congregational Church in Granville, (if my recol-
lection serves me,) were appointed to preside over the
meeting ; and the Rev. Hugh Armstrong, of the Method-
ist Church, and another young gentleman, whose name
is forgotten, were employed to take notes, to which
appeal might be made, in case of dispute or misunder-
stand the arguments or expressions of either of
the parties. The debate was conducted with great abil-
ity, and in a spirit of candor and kindly feeling, which
left all partiefl wiser in many things that they th<
they understood perfectly before, and better disposed in
180 LIFE AND TIMES OF
their feelings toward each other. Such at least is the
impression of the writer respecting Dr. .Bangs at the
time of his traveling Albany circuit, and of the noted
debate he had with the Rev. Mr. Benedict, at which he
was present. These incidents in the early history of Dr.
Bangs's ministry are chiefly important as having given
direction to the future employment of his talents in the
cause of truth and righteousness, which has procured for
him a name and reputation that will live in the annals of
Methodism and the history of the Church in all com-
FIEST APPEARANCE AS AUTHOE.
This year was also memorable to him as that in which
he first appeared before the public as an author. A
preacher of the sect of " Christians " * published a small
book denying the divinity of Christ and other funda-
mental truths of Christianity. It was a publication of
no literary or theological ability, but, being circulated
among the common people, was doing mischief that the
itinerant, in his rapid travels and brief presence, in any
one place could not correct. He therefore issued a pam-
phlet in reply to it. " This," he says, " being my first
effort through the press, it was made with fear and
trembling ; but I have reason to believe that it did good,
as the heterodox pamphlet and its author soon disap-
peared. From being a doubter he afterward became
a fanatic. He even believed at last that he could raise
the dead, and actually attempted to do so in one instance;
but not succeeding, he explained his failure by assuming
that the subject of any such miracle must be one who
has not died of organic disease. What infatuation ! "
* A New England sect, which, while denying some of the most fun-
damental truths of Christianity, appropriated the title as its denomina-
tional style—" Christians with a long I," as George Pickering, a New
England Methodist patriarch, sarcastically characterized them.
NATHAN BANGS, P.D. 181
NEW YORK CONFERENCE, 1310.
The New York Conference for 1S10 began on the 20th
of May in Pittstield, Mass., for it still included much of
the west of that state, as of Connecticut and Vermont,
and also all the Canadas, though at the present session
Upper Canada was detached from it and assigned to the
Genesee Conference, which now for the first time ap-
peared in the Minutes. A large portion of the territory
of the Conference within the state of Xew York was
also incorporated with this new Conference, so that the
returns of members were materially reduced; but the de*-
notnination was rapidly advancing in all this territory.
It received on trial fourteen young preachers, among
whom were Tobias Spicer, Arnold Scolefield. Xoah Bige-
low. Abner Chase, and others who were afterward well
known in the Church. It now comprised at least eighty
itinerants. It was divided into five districts, some of
which include in onr day several large and flourishing
Conferences. Joseph Crawford superintended the Xew
York district, with such men as Peter P. Sandford, B.
Hibbard, Ezekiel Caniield, Coles Carpenter, and William
Thatcher under him. Aaron Hunt led on a powerful corps
of laborers on the Rhinebeck district, among whom were
Elijah Woolsey. Peter Moriarty, Seth Crowell, Phineas
. Marvin Richardson, Laban Clark, Lewis Pease,
and William Phoebus. William Anson conducted an-
other band on the Ashgrove district, among whom were
Samuel Draper, Tobias Spicer, Phineas Peck, and John
a in. Her , on the Hudson River di
had command of some mighty laborers, among whom
Daniel Ostrander, Samuel Merwin, Thomas
sey, Phineas Rice; while Joseph Lawson led
pione- 1 the Canada lino, who were scattered on
awa, Montreal, Three Rivers,
ee. The veteran GarrettsoD was missionary
be great field. This mere lict of naiues
182 LIFE AND TIMES OF
is pregnant with meaning to all who remember the
ministry of the Conference during the first half of our
century.
IN NEW YORK CITY.
Nathan Bangs was now placed in the first of these
corps under Joseph Crawford, and at the head of the
Methodist pastorate of New York city — the " preacher
in charge." Eben Smith, John Robertson, James M.
Smith, and Peter P. Sandford were his colleagues. With
but few intermissions the city was thenceforward to be
the headquarters of his labors and influence. Methodism
there was still in its youthful struggles. It had but one
circuit, with five preachers, and, including its vicinity,
but little more than two thousand communicants. The
city population comprised but about ninety-six thousand
souls. What changes was he to witness there ! What
struggles and successes of his denomination ! What ex-
pansion of the city population — from its less than a hund-
red thousand to more than eight hundred and fourteen
thousand — what additions of miles of streets and of
stately houses ! What almost immeasurable increase of
business and opulence ! What growth and transpositions
of Methodist Churches ! By the year of his death, the
city and its environs were to comprise about twice as
many Methodist preachers as the whole Conference then
reported, though, as we have seen, it swept over much
of New England, and up the Hudson into Canada, to
Montreal and Quebec on the east, and the River Thames,
opposite Detroit, on the west. He was to see the five
Methodist preaching places of the city (but two or three
of them churches) multiplied to about sixty, including
Brooklyn, nearly all of them commodious structures, some
of them ranking among the best ecclesiastical edifices of
the nation. Its two thousand two hundred Methodists
he was to see increased to more than seventeen thousand,
and it may be said that he was to fall at last in death at
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 183
the head of this host, the best known, the most vener-
ated, and most beloved of its representative men. A
marvelous history for one life.
HE ATTEMPTS REFORMS.
He records that he entered upon his new appointment
as preacher in charge of the city Churches with much
diffidence, as he was almost an entire stranger among
them. lie was, however, already a paramount man in
the ministry, with a ripe judgment, an amount of intelli-
gence rare at that period among his brethren, a reputa-
tion for logical skill and theological thoroughness and
soundness, and a commanding person and voice ; a
staunch disciplinarian, an uncommonly instructive and
powerful preacher. It was quickly perceived that he
mastered his new position. He soon gave an improved
tone to the Methodism of the city. For several years
revivals had prevailed in its Churches, but for lack of dis-
cipline they had degenerated into extravagant excite-
ments. The oldest members, trained by the first preach-
ers, and peculiarly exemplary by the depth and steadi-
ness of their piety, deplored these errors ; but by many,
if not most, of the later converts, they were deemed un-
avoidable, if not, indeed, desirable accompaniments of
the spiritual life of the Church. He determined to reform
them. " I witnessed," he says, " a spirit of pride, pre-
sumption, and bigotry, impatience of scriptural restraint
and moderation, clapping of the hands, screaming, and
even jumping, which marred and disgraced the work of
God. After much consultation with my colleagues, and
some of the most judicious members of the societies, and
auch prayer for Divine direction, I called a general
y meeting, in which I read the 'General Rules'
of the Church, and some other particular parts of the
dine, making such remarks upon them as were
u> my mind, and likewise gave my views fully
and frankly us to the unseemly practices which I oonsid-
184 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ered derogatory to the character of the Church. My
mind seemed wonderfully assisted in this delicate busi-
ness, and I felt the approval of my heavenly Father to
rest upon my oavii soul, and . I believe his power and
presence were felt throughout the assembly. This course,
however, gave great offense to many who thought them-
selves implicated, and some seemed grieved because they
altogether misconceived my meaning. All the preachers,
and there happened to be several in from the country at
the time, and all the oldest, most experienced, judicious
part of the society, not only cordially approved of my
attempts and the sentiments I had advanced, but they
rejoiced exceedingly at the stand I had taken, believing
that the occasion called for a firm hand. We therefore
determined to pursue a steady course in correcting these
disorders, trusting in God for success. After having the
subject brought forward and considerably discussed in
the Leaders' meeting, in which several hard things were
said, some wishing me to retract what I had advanced, I
told the brethren that whatever deference I might have
to their judgment, as I was conscious of the Divine ap-
probation in what I had said and done, I was so far from
retreating that I would suffer my head to be severed
from my body before I would recede from the ground I
had taken. This silenced debate, and I believe in a very
short time all were fully satisfied of the purity of my
motives and the correctness of my course.
SINGULAR DEEAM.
"About this time I had a very singular dream. In my
sleep I thought a friend came to see me, to whom I showed
my garden, which I had taken great pains to put in order.
The weeds were all plucked up, and everything was thriv-
ing. As we were admiring its beauty and promise my friend
said to me, ' Do you see that snake V I looked, and saw
that a green snake, exactly resembling the vegetation in
color, had stretched himself around the entire srarden. I
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 185
replied that I saw him and would kill him. My friend
rejoined, 'If you attempt to kill him he will kill you, for
you can see neither his head nor tail, he is so completely
wound round the garden like a hoop.' I then found in my
hand one of the mosl curious whips I ever saw. 'Now,'
said I, ' with this will I kill him.' Although I could not
'his head I touched him very softly, when I found lie
squirmed a little. I struck him harder and harder, till at
length he started up his head with great fury. When I
xi w his crest, with one blow of my whip I severed his
head. 'There,' said I to my friend, who was looking on
with amazement, ' he is dead.' On this I awoke, and be-
hold it was a dream, but ' the interpretation thereof
seemed plain. The garden was the Church, of which I had
the oversight, the snake was an enemy with whom I had
to contend in the discharge of my duties, and the instru-
ment in my hand was the Discipline. I had to contend
with a man who might justly be supposed to have been
represented by the snake, but whose power I was deter-
mined to break; he soon showed himself in his oppo-
sition to the exercise of the Discipline ; but he could do
nothing, as his personal influence was quickly broken."
Ill-- venerable friend, Francis Hall, Esq., of the Com-
mercial Advertiser, one of the few members of the
Church who remain from that day, was a witness of
these scenes, and writes as follows respecting them:
" Dr. Bangs was a man of order in all things, and espe-
cially so in the house of God. It is within the remem-
brance of some old members in this city, when a good
deal of disorder took place at our social meetings. There
were those who made it a practice to go from one place
of worship to another, whose conduct was boisterous;
not content with loud outbreaking, some would even go
so far that they would jump up and down in the p
thereby disturbing the quiet of others, and destroying
all seeming propriety of behavior. .Mr. Bangs saw-
that the cause of G< ed by such conduct, and
186 LIFE AND TIMES OF
he determined to put a stop to it. At this period ' old
John-street Church' was the place where special society
meetings were held, and here Mr. Bangs called the so-
ciety together (there being only one charge in the city at
that time) for the purpose of exhorting the members to
be more orderly in their social meetings. He stated, in
the most affectionate manner, his views in regard to the
management of those meetings. He told the members
that no one was more desirous for lively meetings than
himself; that he always encouraged such meetings; yet
a lively and good meeting could be had without the
disorders so much complained of. The result of this
meeting was of the most pleasing character. A change
took place, which was followed by a glorious revi-
val. One incident of this meeting I well remember.
As we were passing out from the church a good woman
remarked that 'Mr. Bangs had done more injury that
evening to the cause of God than he could ever be able
to make amends for.' This lady had been a warm friend
of Mr. Bangs, and she declared she never desired to
speak to him again. It was not long before she regret-
ted what she had said, and became a more devoted friend
to him than she had ever been before."
INCIDENTS ASBURY.
The temporary disturbance produced by these measures
could not fail to be erroneously reported at a distance.
Letters were sent to Bishop Asbury about them. The
representations of the opposite parties afforded him but
a confused impression of the case. He suspected that
both parties had erred, and that personal resentments
were mixed with their proceedings. In a letter to Dr.
Bangs he alluded to this suspicion, but without personal
invidiousness. Dr. Bangs felt, however, that he deserved
episcopal support, and not ambiguity in such a case, and
replied to the bishop requesting explanations. The lat-
ter answered him in a characteristic letter — character-
NATHAN" BANGS, D.D. 187
istic of the humility and affectionateness of his own great
heart. "My dear brother and son," he said, "it is im-
possible for me to enter into explanations. Unhappy
suspicions have taken place (I said, I think) among us,
tnething like guile; including myself. I confess I
had better not have said anything; I did not mean it for
any but those that were charged with it. I did not
mean a charge against you or any innocent person.
There may be the appearance without reality. I am
sorry I am not more prudent, but when I am called upon
so often to speak and Avrite I am not sufficiently on my
guard. I hope you will bear with me. I am persuaded
of your uprightness. Brother Hitt has spoken in the
highest terms of you to me, in word and letter. You
will pardon me, and pray that I may say, do, preach,
and write better. I remain thine in Jesus." Asbury
loved him with the tenderness of a parent ; he usually
addressed him as " My dear son." " God be gracious
to you," he writes on another occasion, " and remember
you, like David, in all his troubles. I am sorry, seriously
sorry, I have not written to you, if I have not written.
I am almost sure I had your name upon the docket ; but I
run, I flee, I forget. I feel for you, my dear, in a tumult-
uous city, a numerous society, and strange mixtures of
people. And we have our work ; I suppose I have at
least near a thousand letters and papers put into my
hand a year, all calling for some responsibility. From
the first day I saw and read you I loved you with pecul-
iar affection. I love Brother C. ; I love you all ; you
have been my good, obedient, suffering children." In the
paucity of documentary remains of this great and good
man every such trace of his magnanimous soul is pn i
8 - king under infirmities, and was to die in about
four years. As life dwindled he clung more tenaciously
to his old affections and friendships. An increasingly
pathetic tenderness mark- his occasional writings as the
imal shadows deepen over his wonderful career.
188 LIFE AND TIMES OF
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS — CATECHISING.
Mr. Hall gives another example of Dr. Bangs's disci-
plinary firmness in New York. " He was the friend
of Sunday-schools ; yet he was opposed to the schools
being kept open during the time of public worship. A
number of meetings were held in which the subject was
fully discussed by both clergy and laity. I believe the
matter was never brought to a vote, but finally Dr.
Bangs, who was then in charge, issued instructions that
the schools should not be kept open during divine serv-
ice. He did so in a very precise and decided manner
by the following brief notification : ' You are hereby
requested to desist from the disorderly practice of teach-
ing your school during divine service.' At that time it
was the custom, in all our churches, to have preaching
at three o'clock. The order to close the schools in time
for divine service caused some little unpleasantness, but
this soon gave way, and the course pursued by Dr.
Bangs was generally approved. I believe that no
school is now kept open while the public services are
going on."
" Not long," continues his own manuscript, " after
taking charge of the Church in the city, I proposed to
my colleagues the propriety of catechising the children —
a practice which, as far as I know, had never been at-
tempted here — and likewise that we should devote two
afternoons in the week to visiting from house to house,
for our time had been mostly absorbed in preaching.
Accordingly I gave notice that on a given afternoon
I would meet all the children who would attend, fur-
nish them with our 'Scriptural Catechism,' and give
them lessons to learn. At the time appointed there were
not less than three hundred children assembled in the
Forsyth-street Church, to whom I gave the Catechism,
and pointed out the method by which they should study
it. I continued this practice during the two years I re-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 189
mained in the city, and some of my colleagues followed
my example. I have since found many of those children,
now grown to maturity, members of the Church, and
eminent for piety, living witnesses for our highest doc-
trines of holiness. In visiting the families, talking and
praying with them, I received a great blessing. Some
said that they never had a Methodist preacher in their
houses before."
STUDIES M'KXIGHT ADAM CLAEKE.
While thus employed in " disciplining " the Church,
visiting from house to house, and preaching incessantly,
he so economized his time as to find opportunity for
considerable study. He applied himself to the Greek
language, and was ever afterward grateful that he had
been able to acquire sufficient knowledge of it to enable
him to use it in the study of the sacred text. " This
study,"' he - sposed me to less confidence in my-
self; it made me more diffident and cautious in uttering
opinions on subjects which require accurate investiga-
tion and profound critical research." M'Knight opened
to him the scope of the Pauline Epistles, notwithstand-
ing many heterodox teachings. The commentator's Gen-
eral Preface especially delighted him by its bearings on
the Calvinistic controversy. " He is entitled to the
more credit, and may be considered as acting from the
honest convictions of his own well-informed mind, not
only because of his critical acumen, his depth of learn-
ing and extensive research, but also because he be-
longed to the Calvinistic school, and was a minister in
Church. His Critical Xotes are a monument of his
ning, his industry, and of his fidelity to the interests
of the
it this time Adam Clarke's Commentary appeared
in A] Seldom," he writes, "4 had the announ<
ment of a publication excited so much interest among
all classes of the religious community, especially the
190 LIFE AND TIMES OF
clergy. A contest immediately commenced between
some booksellers respecting the right of precedence in
its republication. It was an enormous undertaking for
that day, requiring large expenditure. After much vitu-
peration on both sides a compromise was effected, and
the work was commenced by Mr. Eastman, of New
York, a personal friend of Dr. Clarke, and formerly a mem-
ber of the Wesleyan Connection. It was issued in num-
bers, and was read with avidity." Defective as this
gigantic work now appears, as compared with later crit-
ical commentaries, it was a great production for the
times. Its very defects gave it a certain value. Its
superabundant and often irrelevant erudition afforded,
not only to the Methodist itinerants, but to the Ameri-
can ministry generally, an amount of knowledge which
was then not only rare, but comparatively inaccessible
to many of them in any other form. Its singularities,
not to say whimsicalities, of opinion, served to excite the
curiosity and attract the attention of hundreds of read-
ers who would otherwise hardly have cared to trouble
themselves with any critical study of the Holy Scriptures.
Its value to the Methodist ministry was immeasurably
great. It may be said to have initiated critical biblical
studies among them. It v as an -armory of scriptural
learning to them, and its vast amount of collateral in-
formation prompted their studies in general knowledge.
It was a godsend to Nathan Bangs, and, in connection
with his study of the Greek language, opened a bound-
less range of biblical research before him. He devotes
a crowded page of his manuscript to the expression of
his gratitude for so important a help, and to the end of
his life he was a strenuous " Clarkeite," believing that no
other commentary approached it in all essential points
of adaptation to the mass of Methodist preachers,
though he frankly admitted its obvious defects.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 191
SUCCESS IX THE CITY.
The revival which followed his decided disciplinary
regulation of the New York Societies was powerful and
profound. It resulted in a gain of more than two hund-
red and fifty members during the first year. In his sec-
ond year an additional preacher was needed to supply
the enlarged work. He was still preacher in charge.
His associates were William Phoebus, Laban Clark,
William Blagburne, James M. Smith, and Peter P.
Sandford. Notwithstanding the usual reaction of revi-
vals, they reported a gain of nearly a hundred and fifty
members at the close of the year. Nearly one sixth of
the Methodists of the city at that period, about forty-
six years after the organization of its first society, had
been gathered into the Church in the two years of his
pastoral charge. The improved character which he had
impressed upon the Methodism of the metropolis was
perhaps more important than these numerical gains.
His studious habits, and his predilection for theological
preaching, had enabled him thoroughly to indoctrinate
the Societies. His pastoral diligence, extending, as we
have seen, to the catechetical training of their children,
gave him a salutary influence in their families, and his
firm, but merciful administration of discipline, estab-
lished order, method, and efficiency in all the operations
of the Church.
FIRST DELEGATED GENERAL CONFERENCE.
On the first of May, 1812, about a month before the
close of his term of service in the city, the first delega-
ted General Conference began there its session. He had
been elected a delegate by the Xew York Conference,
which he had represented in the preceding session of
1808; an honorable testimony of the consideration of
his brethren, repeated every lour year- (with but
one exception) for nearly h%lf a century, till, in fine,
192 LIFE AND TIMES OF
his advanced years justified his release from such
responsibilities.
He has left ample notes of this General Conference, in-
terspersed with remarkably frank animadversions on
what he deemed defects in the ecclesiastical system of
Methodism. It was an imposing assembly, comprising
ninety members. Like the annual Conferences, it met
with closed doors; but traveling preachers were admitted
to the galleries. Among the New York Conference rep-
resentatives were, besides himself, such men as Merwin,
Garrettson, Ostrander, Clark ; from New England were
Hedding, Soule, Pickering, Webb ; from the great West-
ern Conference, Blackman, Larkin, Quinn, Collins,
Young ; from Virginia, Lee, Early, Bruce, Hines ; from
Philadelphia, Cooper, M'Claskey, Sargent, Roszel ; from
Baltimore, Reed, Wells, Snethen, George, Shinn, Roberts,
Brush, Smith ; from South Carolina, Pierce, Myers, Ken-
nedy, Dunwocly. Never had Methodism gathered a body
of mightier men. Five of them were destined to be
bishops. Asbury was still the predominant figure in
the assembly, especially to the eyes of Nathan Bangs.
He had but a few months before returned from a survey
of the first battle-fields of the latter, in Canada, and
brought good reports of their prospects. " Surely," he
said, " this is a land that God the Lord has blessed. I
find it like all other stations in the extremities ; there
are difficulties to be overcome, and prospects to cheer
us." There were now nearly three thousand Methodists
in its young Societies ; Quebec had yet but twenty-six,
Montreal but fifty-two ; but the early circuits of Nathan
Bangs were prosperous ; the Ba*y of Quinte reported
more than six hundred, Niagara more than five hundred,
Long Point nearly six hundred. About a score of itiner-
ants were traversing the extensive field. Asbury was
now venerated by bis younger brethren as a scarred
veteran. He was about sixty-six years old; infirmities
were fast breaking him down ; he " limped about," he
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 193
says, " sung, talked, prayed." ** My consolations exeeed-
ingly abound, though my Bufferings are grout. Dr.
Coke says fifteen hundred miles in nine weeks — I may
say sixteen hundred miles in sixty days." "Such," adds
Dr. Bai ills. " were episcopal labors in tliose days ;" and
these, it must be remembered, wen- not the days of steam-
boats and railroads, for the former were yet but locally
used, and the latter unknown.
Bishop M'Kendree took the lead in the episcopal pres-
idency of the session. He read a formal address or
message before it, on the condition of the Church, the
first example of the kind in a Methodist General Con-
ference. Asbury followed in an oral communication.
The delegates were cheered by the encouraging repre-
sentation of their cau# made by M'Kendree. " Upon
examination," he said, "you will find the work of the
Lord is prospering in our hands. Our important charge
has greatly increased since the last General Conference;
we have had an increase of nearly forty thousand mem-
bers. At present we have about one hundred and nine-
ty thousand members, upward of two thousand local,
and about seven hundred traveling preachers, and these
widely scattered over seventeen states, besides the Cana-
da-, and several of the territorial settlements."
Their first bishop, Coke, sent them a congratulatory
letter. He had been living, like the apocalyptic angel,
"having the everlasting Gospel to preach," over the
A>\ esl Indie-. England, and Ireland, and was now pro-
jecting his last great mission to the East Indies.
THE PRESIDING ELDERSHIP.
The two principal questions before the body related to
the election of presiding elders and the ordination of
local preachers. Dr. Han-- took an active part in the
debates on both subjects. The presiding elders had ben,
they still are, appointed by the bishops. Many of the
lead ted their appointment by ballot
13
194 LIFE AXD TIMES OF
in the annual conferences. At the session of 1808 a
motion was introduced to make the office elective; but it
was defeated, though fifty-two voted for it. At the
present session it was renewed, and lost by a majority
of but three votes. All the delegates of the Xew York,
Genesee, and Philadelphia Conferences voted for it;
they had been elected by their respective Conferences for
the express purpose of promoting it. It may not be ir-
relevant here to anticipate the result of this question. It
continued to be agitated with extraordinary interest down
to 1828, "since which time," says Dr. Bangs, "it has
been allowed to sleep in peace." At the session of 1816
it was debated with great zeal and ability. He says that
" perhaps a greater amount of talent was never brought
to bear on any question ever brought before the General
Conference than was elicited from both sides of the house
in this discussion." But sixty votes were cast against
it, and but thirty-eight for it. In 1820 Dr. Bangs was
again its staunch advocate; he was associated with Eze-
kiel Cooper, Stephen G. Roszel, Joshua Wells, John
Emory, and William Capers, (two of them afterward
bishops,) in a committee, which reported a bill for the
election of the presiding elders, reserving as a compro-
mise the right of nomination to the bishops. The pro-
posed change was adopted by a majority of thirty-six,
and it was now supposed to be secure; but Joshua Soule,
elected bishop at this session, tendered his resignation,
declaring to the Conference that he could not, in his
episcopal administration, conscientiously conform to the
new measure, as he deemed it a contravention of the
Restrictive Rules adopted in 1 808. Bishop M'Kendree
also remonstrated against it for the same reason. Evi-
dently serious disturbance would follow the measure.
An attempt was therefore made to reconsider it, but
such was the importance which its advocates attached to
it that the attempt failed, and Bishop Soule's resignation
was accepted. At this critical moment a temporary
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 195
compromise was proposed and adopted ; it was resolved
to suspend the measure till the next General Conference.
In 1824 it was still further discussed; two bishops, Soule
and Hedding, were elected, (the former re-elected;) they
were representatives of the two parties ; the measure
was, however, again suspended, as the only practicable
compromise. In 1828 it was rescinded, and the agita-
tion ceased. In his History of the Church, Dr. Bangs
has given an important summary of the argument on
either side of the question.* I find in his manuscript ac-
count of this session, written many years later, the fol-
lowing remarks : " For Bishop Asbury all felt a high
respect ; and he was opposed to any alteration in the
mode of appointing the presiding elders. The motion in
favor of their election was supported by some of the old-
est and most influential preachers in the Conference, such
as Jesse Lee, Ezekiel Cooper, Freeborn Garrettson,
Thomas Ware, "William Phoebus, Aaron Hunt, etc. ; but
it was opposed by all the Southern and Western preach-
ers, and by the delegates of the New England Confer-
ences. Whether it would have been better for the in-
terests of the Church to have had this alteration effected
or not, I cannot say ; but I cannot but think that it is
committing too much power into the hands of any one
man, however wise and holy he may be, to have the
destinies of so many men at his own disposal, as our
bishops have. Xot only are there more than twelve
hundred ministers, whose stations every year are subject
to the control of the bishops, but their wives and chil-
dren, and the people whom these minisl ts serve, so far
sspects the men to whom their spiritual interests are
committed. Who will say that this is not a tremendous
power? It is, in my humble opinion, a power which not
one of our bishops can safely nse." He modified his
opinion, however, on this In a note to tl
remarks, written on the 16th of September, 1852,
* Vol. ii, anno 1812.
196 LIFE AND TIMES OF
that he is "inclined to think," from later observation
of the working of the present plan, the increase of the
bishops, and virtual concessions from them in the mak-
ing of the appointments, that " however faulty our theory
may be, its practice is unexcej^tionable, and justifiable
on grounds of expediency."
OEDINATION OF LOCAL PEEACHEES.
On the other great question before this Conference he
was, if possible, still more decided, and remained so to
the last. He opposed the ordination of local preachers,
because he could not approve the ordination of any man
who would not give himself professionally and entirely
to the work of the ministry. He says in the manuscript
before me, " I think that, as a Church, we have erred in
some things, and been deficient in others. In the first
place, in order to secure an experienced, well-informed
ministry, such a provision should have been made for its
support as to have left no reasonable excuse for 'lo-
cations.' Having done this, and it might have been
done, those who chose to leave the Word of God to serve
tables should have been stripped of their ministerial
functions, and left as they were before they entered the
itinerancy. This would have prevented locations, on the
one hand, and secured an experienced ministry on the
other. As it now is, many of our most popular preach-
ers have either located, becoming merchants, doctors,
farmers, or mechanics, or have joined other denomina-
tions, chiefly the Protestant Episcopal Church. This
has thinned our ranks and greatly weakened our force."
These are sharp sayings ; they were written, however,
in the last generation, when they were more relevant
than at present. I find in a note, dated June 14, 1829,
this brave addendum : " If this should survive me, and
ever be published, I charge those to whom it may be
committed not to suppress these remarks respecting our
ministry. N. Bangs." In fine, while no man loved Meth-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 197
odism more devotedly than Nathan Bangs, his clear head
and robust heart clearly discerned and courageously as-
serted its faults as well as its excellencies. From the
beginning of his official prominence in the Church he
was above any petty prejudices or whimsicalities to
Which it may have, directly or indirectly, given sanction,
whether in its popular modes of worship, its social habits,
or its disciplinary system. Staunchly conservative of its
ial characteristics, he was always "progressive"
in matters of expediency. He had, however, his own
honest prejudices. Though he never changed his opinion
respecting the ordination of local preachers, and never
voted for the ordination of one in his own Conference, it
may well be doubted whether his judgment was not
erroneous in this respect. In most of the country Meth-
odism was yet a missionary system; much of it is still
such, and must be for generations. Ordained traveling
preachers on long circuits need the assistance of local
preachers in the administration of the sacraments, and,
aside from this consideration, it may well be questioned
whether any tendency to popularize the Christian min-
istry, to divest it of hierarchical peculiarities, and exalt
the lay life of the Church to the religious offices and
dignity with which Holy Scripture seems to exalt it, as
" a royal priesthood," is not conformable to the original
model of the Church, and to the original and sublime
design of Christianity; at least it cannot be denied that
the local ministry of Methodism holds a most important
historical position in its great mission. It has ben in-
strumental in founding the denomination in the United
3, the North American British Provinces, the West
Indies, Australia, and Africa, and, without pecuniary re-
muneration, it has always and everywhere done laborious
service for the common cause. Throughout the M<
ist world it is numerically twice or thrice as >t r-
the itinerant ministry. It is probable that if the Church
lied at all in respect to it, the failure has been in
198 LIFE AND TIMES OF
its encouragement and training rather than in any undue
concessions to it.
HIS SERVICES IN THE CONFERENCE.
Though Dr. Bangs had modestly declined to take any
active part in the proceedings of the General Conference
of 1808, except to vote, in the present session he as-
sumed his due position. He was prominent in its de-
bates. He was one of the chief supporters of his life-long
friend, Laban Clark, who introduced the motion in favor
of an elective presiding eldership. He initiated the Com-
mittee on the Book Concern, a measure which has never
been abandoned ; he already saw the great capacity of
that institution by which, in his own day and mostly
through his own exertions, it was to become the greatest
publishing agency of the religious world. He was ap-
pointed with Cooper, Snethen, Roszel, Bruce, and others,
on the Committee on the Episcopacy — the first example
of that important committee. He was a member of a
committee on the collection and publication of historical
documents relating to the Church, and also of a commit-
tee to incorporate into the Discipline the new enactments
of the Conference.
199
CHAPTER XIV.
ITINERANT LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES.
The General Conference of 1812 adjourned on the
2 2d of May; the New York Conference commenced
its session, at Albany, on the 5th of June.* The
war with Great Britain was at hand, and the polit-
ical agitation of the nation had already disturbed its
religious tranquillity and prosperity. The returns of
members showed, not only no increase, but a loss in the
Xew York Conference.
Asbury's visit to Canada had convinced him of the
importance of that country as a promising field for Meth-
odism. Nathan Bangs was the man, in his estimation,
to take charge of the part of its territory which ap-
pertained to the Lower Province, though it was- not now
within the jurisdiction of his own Conference, but be-
longed to that of Genesee. The bishop had seen the
results of his labors there, and now solicited him with
much urgency to return to it,f taking a station at Mon-
treal, but having, at the same time, charge of all the cir-
cuits in the province on the north-western side of the
St. Lawrence. " This,'' he says, " was a great cross to
* In the Minutes it was appointed for the 4th of June ; Dr. Bangs's
manuscript says it began on the 5th of June.
• vithstanding the absolute prerogative of the bishops to appoint
preachers in that day, no itinerant was sent beyond the limits of the
United States without his own consent. Canada was considered a
ury field — a historical fact by which the General Conference,
acknowledging that it hud no constitutional power to divide the
Church, deemed itself at liberty to allow the separation of the
dian Conference from the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ibis— a prece-
dent of no little importance in judging of the division of the Meth-
odist E
200 LIFE AND TIMES OF
me. Indeed, so many difficulties presented themselves
in my way that I declined going till after the appoint-
ments were read off, at the close of the Conference, and
I was announced for the city of Troy. Knowing the
state of things in Canada, and feeling much for the peo-
ple, and perceiving at the same time that the men ap-
pointed for it were entirely inadequate to its wants, I at
last told Bishop M'Kendree, that if he would allow me
to return to the States at the end of four years I would
consent to go. He accepted me, and the appointment
was made. Soon after the adjournment, news of the
declaration of war against Great Britain reached the
city of New York, where I then was with my family.
This, of course, cut off all friendly intercourse between
the Canadas and the United States. For some time I
hesitated what to do, but by the advice of friends I
finally concluded to pursue my journey, and, after tak-
ing an affectionate leave of my people in New York,
who had been remarkably kind to me and mine during
all my residence among them, I set off and went as far
as Lansingburg. Here I halted until Bishops Asbury and
M'Kendree returned from the New England Conference.
They both decided that it was not expedient for me to
proceed further. My mission was therefore abandoned.
I took part of a house which Rev. Peter P. Sandford
occupied in Troy. I felt somewhat embarrassed, not
having any particular station, and, of course, no resources
for a livelihood for my wife and two children, except a
little money of my own, and these uncertainties in a time
of war and great public agitation. There were indeed
calls enough for preaching as long as I could preach gra-
tuitously, to which I had no objection were I not de
pendent upon my labors for my support. The Lord, how-
ever, provided for me. I found some relief to my anxie-
ties in occupying my leisure with the composition of an
essay on the Reasonableness of Christianitv. I had long
meditated it, but though I have since nearly completed
D.D. • 201
it, I have not felt at liberty to submit it to the public.
If it may never have any other use, the writing of it
has at Least tended to quicken and enlarge ni} own
mind.
•*• While in Troy I had various solicitations from my
friends in New York, particularly from the venerable
Mr. Garrettson, who then presided over the New York
district, to remove southward. Accordingly, about the
middle of September I left Troy, took a boat at Albany,
and conveyed my family to Tarrytown. The day after
my arrival I was seized with dysentery, but we were
received into the house of a friend, and during the whole
of my sickness, which lasted about five weeks, were
treated with all the kindness and hospitality I could have
expected in my own father's house. For about one
week I suffered excruciating pain, but it pleased God to
restore me. When sufficiently strong I removed my
family to the town of Bedford, on the Croton circuit,
which I traveled the remainder of the year. There I
found a very affectionate people. They did not merely
say, ' Go and be thou warmed, and be thou clothed,' but
they gave such things as I needed, and I labored among
them with peculiar satisfaction. We had not been long
settled in Bedford when my wife was taken sick with
every symptom of fetal consumption. She was under
the doctor's care about four months, but finally recover-
ed her health. On the whole this was a year of severe
affliction, mixed indeed with many mercies. Besides our
sickness, we moved no less than three times, and over
considerable distances. God, however, was gracious, and
sent us 'help from his holy hill.'"
II > friend and colaborer, Rev. Dr. Luckey, refers to
these events as follows: "Mr. Asbury found it difficult
to get men to supply the work in Canada, in consequence
of the threatened rupture between the United State- and
England. Rev. J. Scull, preacher at Quebec, and Rev.
J. Mitchell, at Montreal, declined returning to Canada.
202 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mr. Sampson, the presiding elder, had left his work and
never returned to it. Considering Canada as missionary-
ground, Mr. Asbury would not appoint any but volun-
teers to it ; and under the circumstances he found it diffi-
cult to get any to volunteer. Rev. T. Burch, who was
a British subject, consented to go to Quebec. Seeing the
reluctance of others, Dr. Bangs, after having declined
the offer of the appointment, magnanimously volunteered
to fill the other vacancy at Montreal. This was a noble
example to men of inferior claims. He had reached a
position which would secure to him any one of the best
appointments in the states. But with this justly merited
position, he surrendered all claim to a privileged ap-
pointment in order to meet the call of the work where
others refused to go. He was accordingly appointed to
Montreal, with the charge of the Lower Canada district.
The preachers appointed to that field were, at Montreal,
Nathan Bangs ; Quebec, Thomas Burch ; Ottawa, Rob-
ert Hibbard ; St. Francis River, Samuel Luekey and J.
F. Chamberlain. But none of these were able to reach
their appointments except Hibbard and Burch. The
former was drowned soon after in attempting to cross
the St. Lawrence, and the latter took charge of the
Church in Montreal, being protected as a subject of the
British government. Luekey and Chamberlain, being
unable to cross the line in safety, found employment in
the regular work in Vermont, within the New England
Conference. Dr. Bangs, from the same impediment,
found himself far separated from his associates, and
without a definite field of labor. He did not remain
idle, however. He was employed by the presiding elder
on Croton circuit, where he did effective service."*
OLD RHINEBECK DISTRICT.
In this desultory way he passed through the ecclesias-
tical year and returned to the Conference, which began
* Letter of Eev. Dr. Luekey to the author.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 203
its session at Amenia, N\ Y., May 5, 1813, where he
was honored by his brethren with one of its most im-
portant appointments, the presiding eldership of -the
Rhinebeck district. It was a grand field for his energies,
extending from Rhinebeck through Dutchess county,
and through western Massachusetts to Pittsfield, and
thence through Connecticut to Long Island Sound. The
territory of this old district includes, in our day, some
half dozen presiding elders' jurisdictions. It reported,
at that time, but three or four chapels jjnd no parsonage
whatever. Dr. Bangs was then in the maturity of his
manhood. His preaching was powerful : his quarterly
meetings and camp-meetings were jubilatic occasions,
crowded by multitudes from many miles around. He
traversed his great field with tireless energy, and before
he left it, was begun that liberal provision of chapels
and parsonages which has dotted the whole region with
Methodist edifices — a chapel and a preacher's home in
almost ever^ village. The old Rhinebeck district may
now, in fine, be called the garden of Methodism. He
had under his command nearly a score of powerful evan-
gelists, who caught inspiration from his own unflagging
zeal. Among them were James M. Smith, Coles Car-
penter, Samuel Luckey, B. Hibbard, Aaron Hunt, Elijah
Woolsey, Marvin Richardson, Ebenezer Washburn,
and James Coleman. Some of them had been trained,
like himself, in the heroic itinerancy of Canada. He
not only labored with his might for the spiritual advance-
ment of the societies, but incessantly endeavored to pro-
mote their financial support, the improvement of their
places of worship, and the better arrangement of their
circuit appointments. In th CtS he was a model
ling elder. Especially did he remonstrate against
the penurious maintenance of the itinerants. " When I
went upon this district," he writes, "I told the preach-
ers that if they would second me in my plans I would
guarantee their full ' allowance.' I submitted my plan
204 LIFE AND TIMES OF
to the Quarterly Conferences and it was very generally
approved. At the first Quarterly Meeting after the an-
nual Conference we ascertained the amount necessary
to meet the demands for the year. This we divided
among the several classes, in proportion to their numbers
and ability, as nearly as could be ascertained, and then
che classes apportioned it among their members. I be-
lieve there was very little if any deficiency through the
whole four years ; and I am persuaded that, if suitable
measures were pursued, the full amount of all demands
might be collected every year, and thus the hearts of our
hard working preachers and of their widows and or-
phans, who now receive only about one third of their
allowance, would be made to rejoice."
He also succeeded in ameliorating the condition of the
Church by modifying the plan of circuit ministrations
through most of the district. We may indeed claim
for him the honor of initiating that change, in this re-
spect, which has since extended its beneficent influences
through most of the Atlantic Conferences. " Though
Methodism," he continues, " had been planted in this
part of the country for a number cf years, yet the socie-
ties were generally small, the meeting-houses few and
located in out of the way places, remote from the cen-
ters of population, and most of them but half finished.
The itinerants on their four weeks' circuits were in the
habit of preaching at each appointment once in two
weeks, (there being two preachers usually to each circuit,)
mostly in private or school-houses, and after the sermon
they were quickly away to the next appointment. As
a consequence, though their labors were blessed in the
conversion of souls, most of their converts were gath-
ered into other Churches, the pastors of these being on
the spot, and usually alert for them. Seeing this state
of things, I said to the preachers, ' You might as well
go home and go to sleep, so far as Methodism is con-
cerned, as to preach in the manner you do ; for though
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 205
your labors may be blessed, other sects will reap their
results, and thus, so far as our own Church is concerned,
you Lose the fruit of your toils and sufferings.' "What
shall we do?5 it was asked. 'We must,' I replied, 'go
to work and build churches in all the cities and
populous villages, and have preachers stationed in them,
that they may perform the duties of pastors, watching
over the flock and building them up in holiness.' The
necessity of this course was generally conceded, but
how to accomplish it was the question. Our people
were generally poor and the societies small, and there-
fore unable to build churches and support pastors. But
it manifestly must be done. These views I endeavored
to press upon the people and preachers, and we went to
work as well as we could ; a beginning opened the way
for further success, and this policy has ever since been
followed on the district with continual advancement.
Its results fully justify the views expressed. Through
all that region we now have convenient houses, flour-
ishing societies, preachers stationed and comfortably
supported. To God be all the glory !" It may indeed
be affirmed that throughout the territory of this old dis-
trict— western Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and
the upper Hudson — Methodism presents to-day the
bright and indelible impression of the wise and en-
ergetic plans of Nathan Bangs. Nowhere else in
the world lias it better chapels and parsonages, more
ieties, or more intelligent and enterprising
people.
II I> SUCCESS.
Meanwhile he neglected not his own culture as a man
and a theologian. His habits of study were hardly re-
laxed, though he was constantly in motion on horseback.
lb- no* felt, indeed, more than ever the necessity of
til" ility in his professional studies, for lie was
surrounded by theological difficulties which required the
206 LIFE AND TIMES OF
best possible mastery. The rigid Calvinism of New-
England had yielded to some modifications in the fur-
ther east, but in Connecticut and western Massachu-
setts he found it in unabated strength. He deemed it a
chief obstacle to the "revivals," which were character-
istic of Methodistic preaching. Partially awakened
minds were waiting for the " effectual call ;" awakened
minds felt little or no responsibility for their moral con-
dition, as they had been taught that it was the result of
predestination ; backslidden converts, believing in their
final safety, defended themselves by a theological shield
from the warnings of the evangelists. It is unnecessary
to argue whether these evils were legitimate conse-
quences of the prevalent creed ; they were at least its
popular consequences, and Dr. Bangs and his colleagues
saw that they must be dispelled before their message to
the people could have full sway. They had reluctantly
to become polemics as well as evangelists. In doing so
they may have sometimes erred by an excess of contro-
versy, but this could be but an occasional fault ; their
ministerial methods and zeal kept them generally faithful
to their main work, the conversion and sanctification of
the people, and they were successful. " The Lord," he
writes, " blessed our endeavors ; wre had the happiness
to witness several gracious revivals of religion." They
led the wTay in that amelioration of theological opinions
which has ever since been advancing throughout this
section of New England, and by the end of his four
years' superintendence of the district its nine circuits, or
stations, had increased to thirteen, its nineteen preachers
to twenty-five, and it had gained nearly a thousand
Church-members. Besides this numerical success, yearly
all its economical interests had improved; chapels and
parsonages wTere springing up all over its territory.
Methodism had, in fine, secured in this extensive region
not only a lodgment, but a strength which* no subse-
quent adversities have been able to shake.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 207
HIS PREACHING,
His ability in the pulpit attracted the people in crowds
at his numerous appointments, for his word was in " dem-
onstration of the Spirit and of power." The clergy of
other denominations delighted to hear him, while dread-
ing his supposed heresies. His surviving friend, Francis
Hall, who knew him well about this time, describes him
aa " a master of theology and logic, and better known
among other sects than almost any Methodist preacher,
except Aslmry." " I remember," writes Mr. Hall, " that
soon after the war, which commenced in 1812, I was
traveling to the north, and had put up for the night at
Jaques Hotel, in Rhinebeck. There I found the Rev.
Dr. Romeyn and the Rev. Dr. Westbrook — eminent
clergymen of that day. The conversation turned to
Methodist preaching, when Dr. Romeyn remarked that
one of the best sermons he ever heard was from Nathan
Bangs, in the Rhinebeck church."* If not intellectually
polished, he was intellectually powerful; a certain mighti-
ness of thought and feeling bore clown at times all before
him, especially when he preached to large assemblies at
quarterly and camp-meetings. At one of the latter it
was estimated that two hundred hearers were awakened
under a single sermon ; they fell, like wounded men, on the
right and on the left; he preached on for two hours; and
kid that an earthquake, shaking the camp through-
out those awful hours, could hardly have produced a
more irresistible excitement. The Rev. Dr. Fitch Reed,
who began his ministry on this district in 1815, writes
of him: "I hardly dare speak in such term- a- would
fully express my estimate of his character, lesl to
other- I might seem extravagant in eulogy. Very inti-
mate acquaintance was necessary in order really to know
him; and the better he was known, the brighter ap-
• llent qualities df his heart. To a stranger
§ ter of Fran the author.
208 LIFE AND TIMES OF
he might seem stern, haughty, and unapproachable ; yet
really no one could well be less so. In the intimacy and
freedom of intercourse with his friends, he was remark-
able for his childlike simplicity and gentleness, his entire
freedom from guile, and the strength and fervor of his
attachments. In his promptness and frankness to recall
any hasty words inconsiderately uttered against others,
I think I never knew his superior, if indeed his equal.
In all that region of country no one stood higher in pub-
lic esteem. Quarterly Meetings were great occasions,
calling out vast multitudes, many of them from a dis-
tance of thirty or forty miles. No church edifice would
begin to accommodate the crowds of people ; and in the
summer season an orchard or grove frequently served as
our temple of worship, and mighty displays of awaken-
ing and saving power were often witnessed under the
fervid and heart-searching preaching of our presiding
elder."
THE CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY.
He used his pen in the necessary controversies of these
times. The Rev. Mr. Wiltiston, in whose church he had
held the debate, at Durham, N. Y., published, as has
been stated, a volume on the subjects of the controversy,
with severe reflections on the Methodist ministry. Dr.
Bangs believed it his duty to answer this publication, in
a work entitled "Errors of Hopkinsianism : Letters to
Rev. Mr. Williston," etc., issued in 1815. He says, in
the manuscript before me, "Whatever imperfections
there may be in this book, and there are doubtless many,
I enjoy the consciousness of having acted in the fear of
God and from a sense of duty. I soberly believe that
those features of Calvinism that distinguish it from Ar-
minianism are contrary to the Holy Scriptures and
reason, and have a most pernicious influence. While,
however, I say this, I fully accredit the good and able
men who have been, and are still, conscientiously en-
D.D. 209
■1 in their defense. But Calvinism had lately been
improved by Hopkinsianism, and in addition to the
points of difference alluded to, the peculiarities of Hop-
kinsianism entered into the present controversy, and
rendered it still more intricate and perplexing. The
latt i approxiraat ss, i - its, nearer to
bhodism; luit while it holds that Christ died for all
men, and that all may be saved if they will, it holds fast
the doctrines of predestination, eternal and individual
election, the necessary continuance of indwelling sin,
and the final perseverance of the saints, and these make
it inconsistent with itself. Xot withstanding these bel-
rent troubles, during the third and fourth years of
my travels on the district we had increasing revivals.
The pure doctrines of the Gospel ran and were glorified.
Xew places for preaching were opened in many towns,
and we had large and attentive congregations. And
though we felt it to be our duty to preach against the
peculiarities of Hopkinsianism and Calvinism, many
Calvinistic churches were opened to us, and prejudices
against us were much weakened, our doctrines being
better understood and more favorably received. Though
I printed an edition of three thousand of the 'Errors
of Hopkinsianism Detected and Refuted,' they were all
sold in about six months, and I had orders on hand for
ably more than I could supply. The circulation
of thi< bouk gave me access to many places which other-
1 believe, I could never have read
While writing the " Letters,*' he reviewed in h;s
lies the whole Calvinistic controversy. He grappled
gigantic work of Edwards on the Will, admiring
profound ability, but detecting in it the central fal-
which its later critics have imputed to it. Hopkins,
-. Williams, and other representative the..'
of the time. onsly studied by him;
became a master of the controversy, and. in ':.'
quent editorial life these early inquiri a available
14*
210 LIFE AND TIMES OF
for the defense of his Church. For many years he was
the most competent polemic in this particular depart-
ment of theological metaphysics that the denomination
could boast of on this side of the Atlantic.
CHURCH AND STATE.
His labors in Connecticut aided much in promoting
another great public advantage. The connection of
Church and State still existed there. The Calvinistic
" standing order" still imposed some grievous disabilities
on other religious parties. The state constitution in
spirit contravened the federal Constitution regarding re-
ligious liberty. The rapid growth of Methodism and
the declension of the traditional theology tended much
to render this state of things intolerable. "A favorable
opportunity," he writes, "occurred for the suffering
sects to relieve themselves, and they so far improved it
as to effect a revolution. A convention was called, and a
constitution adopted which secures to all religious de-
nominations equal rights and privileges." The favorable
opportunity here alluded to was the payment, by the
Federal government, of the expenses of the state militia,
incurred in the late war with Great Britain. The state
legislature appropriated the funds thus obtained to the
different Christian denominations, for the promotion of
religion and morals in the commonwealth ; but the dis-
proportionate amount given to the "standing order"
dissatisfied the Methodists, Baptists, Protestant Episco-
palians, and others, who were really a majority. The
dissidents united in a protest against the inequitable ap-
portionment; the result was a convention, the abroga-
tion of the Colonial Charter, the adoption of a Bill of
Rights and a Constitution, the Abolition of Church Taxes,
and the enfranchisement of all sects. This example led
to a similar reform in Massachusetts, and thus com-
pleted the separation of Church and State in the United
States.
NATHAN 1>AN<;<, D.D. 211
REVISITS THE SCENES OF HIS CHILDHOOD.
The Rhinebeck district included the localities of his
childhood, and he visited them with affecting interest.
"I had," he Bays, "been absent from them twenty years;
it gave me much joy, therefore, to return to these places
of my early remembrances. At the lirst house to
which I came, and where I used to be known, I found,
the head of the family old and decrepid. After exchang-
ing a few words with him I inquired for Captain Sum-
mers and his brother's family, with whom I had been
intimate. The two brothers were dead, and their fami-
lies dispersed. Many others for whom I inquired were
also dead ; some of them had perished at sea, some in the
far West. Almost all the old people whom I could
remember were ' gone the way of all the earth.' 31 v re-
flections became sad; I seemed in a strange land. My
young associates had so changed that I could not recog-
nize them. I turned mournfully away toward the burial-
ground to converse with the dead. There I found on the
tombstones the names of, alas ! how many whom I could
recollect. I wandered among their graves a long time ;
I reflected, not unprofitably nor unpleasantly, upon the
transitory nature of all earthly things, and endeavored to
lift my heart to the abiding heavens, the final home. I
devoutly thanked God for his many mercies to me, a
poor wanderer on the earth, who had so strangely found
my way back to these first scenes of my pilgrimage. I
could not well break away from the spot. My mind
seemed fascinated by its many associations." The
place where he used to attend school ; the public
len," where the village parades were held and his
sportfl were played; the old inn, once a notable
•■• of the parish, now converted into a preaching-
house; the fields where he wandered in hi- boyhood : the
church in which !.• prised, and whither In-
used to lead hi- young feet to the ordinal rod,
212 LIFE AND TIMES OF
wore all in sight. "How many recollections," he con-
tinues, " crowded upon my mind ! In my meditations I
made a rapid history of the first thirteen years of my life.
It was mostly beautiful with the simple poetry of child-
hood; but what changes had occurred in the twenty years
of my absence ! The house in which I had lived was de-
molished; the school-house was gone; the church, though
standing, seemed smitten with the general change, for it
had been forsaken for another, and was going to decay ;
the old innkeeper was dead, and many of his aged neigh-
hovs and jovial customers lay by his side in the dust ; his
widow survived ; she had become a Methodist, and her
house was now the occasional temple of my own breth-
ren. I looked this way and that, but was riveted to the
spot by an irresistible yet pleasant melancholy. I did
not wish to see a living being, nor to be diverted from
my saddening meditations. Whether the friend who
was with me perceived my emotions or not I cannot say,
but he appeared willing to leave me to my musings. O
this was a most profitable hour ! I thought it would
compensate for whatever I might suffer during my
travels on the district.
"Leaving the place consecrated to the dust of my
friends, I visited a half sister, who was married and the
mother of a family ; and here again the fountain of old
memories was broken up. In the evening I preached
in the old inn. A large assembly, most of whom for-
merly knew me, were present, and I addressed them
with deep and pensive satisfaction. The appearance of
so many bowed and gray-headed men, whom I knew in
their prime of life, when I was but a boy, reminded me
again of the swift flight of the years, and made me think
for the first time that I was growing old, though yet but
thirty-six years of age. Before I left the village I visited
many families, former acquaintances of my father, who
remembered me as the ' little white-headed boy ' of other
years. Some of them told me they used to predict that
D.D. 213
I would become a preacher of the Gospel, and seemed to
delight in rehearsing incidents of my boyhood."
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1816.
While superintending this district he was elected a
delegate to the General Conference of 1816, which as-
sembled in Baltimore on the first of May. One hundred
and three delegates were present, representing all parts
of the nation. Besides himself, Xew York Conference
sent Garrettson, Phoebus, "Washburn, Merwin, Sandford,
Clark, Ostrander, and others of its chief men ; Soule,
Hedding, Ruter, Pickering, and similar men were there
from Xew England ; Puffer, Gary, Mattison, Case, from
Genesee ; Quinn, Holliday, Young, Lakin, Sale, from
Ohio ; Cartwrigbt, Sellers, Axley, and Walker from Ten-
nessee ; Myers, Kennedy, Dunwody, Tally, from South
Carolina ; Bruce, Hines, Drake, Thrift, from Virginia ;
Wells, George, Smith, Roszel, Griffith, Burch, Shinn,
Gruber, Waugh, from Baltimore; Roberts, M'Combs,
Sharp, Martindale, Boehm, Emory, and Bishop from
Philadelphia. Six of these delegates afterward became
bishops in the denomination, and the body as a whole
presented an extraordinary example of intellectual and
moral strength.
Peace was now restored to the country, but the moral
effect of the war was still generally visible. The increase
df communicants reported this year was but little more
than three thousand ; the increase since the preceding
General Conference less than nineteen thousand. The
ength of the Church was, however, mighty ;
it amounted to about two hundred and fourteen thousand
members, and seven hundred traveling preachers. Meth-
specially prevailed in the great Wesl ; its
"old W. oference," now comprising two Corifer-
ported more than one fifth ofthewhole memb< %
ship of the Church.
214 LIFE AND TIMES OF
HIS SERVICES IN THE CONFERENCE.
The Journal of the General Conference shows that few
delegates were more active or more influential in the pro-
ceedings of this session than Nathan Bangs. He was
the first named on the committee to whom were referred
the Episcopal Address of M'Kendree, and the posthu-
mous address of Asbury; and in the report of the com-
mittee defined, to a considerable extent, the course of
business which has ever since been pursued in the Con-
ference, by proposing committees on the Episcopacy, the
Book Concern, Ways and Means, Review and Revision,
Safety and Temporal Economy. Some of these committees
had been anticipated at the previous session, but they
were now definitively, and it may be* said permanently
established. He was appointed chairman of the Com-
mittee of Ways and Means. He proposed a Committee
on Local Preachers, and was appointed a member of
it, and also chairman of the Committee to prepare an
Address to the English Wesleyan Missionary Society,
and a member of the Committee to revise the Discipline.
In his manuscript account of the session he says : " At
this Conference there were some important changes made
in our temporal economy. The ' allowance' of the preach-
ers and their wives was raised from eighty to one hund-
red dollars each, and the Quarterly Conference was
authorized to make provision, by appointment of a com-
mittee for that purpose, for the family expenses of the
preachers stationed among them. Being a member of
the committee on this part of our economy, I drew up the
rules of the Discipline on these subjects, and, of course,
was an advocate for them. The same committee re-
ported the rule, which was this year incorporated into
the Discipline, requiring a course of study for candidates
for the ministry. I was the author of this rule. These
measures encountered great opposition from many dele-
gates, and were debated through three or four days.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 215
They wore amended in such various ways that we could
make nothing of them. I finally proposed to a brother
delegate, Stephen G. Roszel, that if he would second my
motion I would move to lay all the amendments on the
table, and take up the original report of the committee
and adopt it. To this he assented, and the resolutions,
as seen in the Discipline, wrere adopted. That these
regulations have had a salutary influence on the Church
I have no doubt, and therefore I reflect wTith much
pleasure on the agency I had in drafting the report and
in its adoption."
Both these measures were, indeed, inestimably im-
portant as forward movements — the beginning of those
advancements in the support and literary improvement
of the ministry which have ever since continued. It re-
quired a man who was in advance of the times to initiate
such changes, slight as they were, compared with their
later progress, and it required no small amount of moral
courage to withstand the hostile debate they provoked
in the Conference, and persistently to press them to a
successful issue.
To the Book Concern he gave special attention in the
proceedings of this session, for he saw clearly its future
importance as an engine of moral and literary power in
the Church and the nation. He offered a resolution in-
structing its agents to publish a monthly magazine. The
motion was promptly defeated, but was subsequently
Laced in the Report of the Committee on the Book
Concern and adopted, not, however, without a -
contest. lie had advocated this measure in the session
of 1812; of that session he says: "The importance of
publishing a periodica] work was Btrongly urged by some
of the Leading members, and strenuously opposed by
The Bubject was referred to the consideration
of tli<- Book Concern Committee, and they finally r
mended, and the < concurred, 'That the
agents be directed to resume the publication of the
216 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Methodist Magazine, two volumes having been pub-
lished, (namely, in 1789 and 1790,) to commence pub-
lishing the third volume, at furthest, by January next.'
The mandate of the Conference was, however, never
obeyed, and, unhappily for the literature and character
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, we had no magazine,
nor scarcely any publication of American growth until
1818, when the Methodist Magazine was recommenced.
During a number of years it appears that education of
all sorts, as well as writing for the public eye, was laid
aside as useless, and we seem to have come to the strange
conclusion that we had naught else to do than simply
preach the Gospel, and attend to those other duties
which are connected with the pastoral office, in order to
insure the blessing of God on our labors ; hence, the
Magazine had been discontinued for more than twenty
years, and scarcely anything issued from our press, except
what was imported from Europe, and much of this was
brought before the public through other mediums.
Here and there a small pamphlet made its appearance,
but only to disappear, generally before it had time to
breathe the breath of life ; for it seemed to be taken for
granted that American Methodists were doomed to a
state of nonage, which unfitted them to instruct one
another through the medium of the press. It is true
that a few sighed over this state of things, and some-
times vented their feelings to one another in accents of
sorrow and regret, but they almost despaired of obtain-
ing redress. When assailed by our adversaries we had
no adequate means of defense, and hence the reading
public were left to draw their own inferences respecting
Methodist doctrines and economy from the distorted
representations of those who felt it their duty to carica-
ture us. From these humiliating facts it became pro-
verbial that the 'Methodists were enemies to learning.'
It must be confessed that there was too much reason for
the taunting remark, and it was not without much labor
D.D. 217
that the reproach has been, in some measure at least,
rolled away l'roni us."
He may thus be said to have been the chief founder
of the periodical literature of American Methodism ;
and he is but the more entitled to this honor by the fact
that the experiment made nearly a quarter of a century
before had been a complete failure.
DEATHS OF COKE AND ASBI7RY.
This General Conference was solemnized and sadden-
ed by the death, since the preceding session, of its first
two bishops — men who, in our times, are constantly
rising in historical importance by the results of their ex-
traordinary services. Bishop Coke had died on the 3d
of May, 1814, on his voyage to the East, and was buried
in the Indian Ocean. Xeither Wesley nor Whitefield
exceeded him in ministerial travels. It is probable that
no Methodist of his day, it is doubtful whether any
Protestant of his day, contributed more from his own
property for the promotion of religion. He spent nearly
forty years in scarcely intermitted travels for the Gos-
pel; he crossed the Atlantic eighteen times; he was the
founder of the Wesleyan Missions in the West Indies,
Africa, Asia, in England, Wales, and Ireland; he was
the official director of the Wesleyan missionary opera-
tions from their origin till about the year of his death ;
he was the first who suggested to Wesley the constitu-
tional organization of English Methodism as provided
in the " Deed of Declaration ;" and he was the found-
er, under "Wesley, of the episcopal government of
American Methodism, lb? was the first Protestant
bishop of the Western Hemisphere. By both the ex-
tent and the >till greater results of hi- services he most
>nounced one of the chief representative men of
modern religious history, if not indeed, a- Asbnry de-
clared, '■ • nan of the last century in labors
and sen of Christ."
218 LIFE AXD TIMES OF
Asbury died in Virginia, about two months before the
session of the General Conference, aged more than sev-
enty years, and after preaching more than half a century.
He had labored, as a founder of Methodism in America,
about forty-five years. His last sermon was delivered
in Richmond, Va., on the 24th of March, 1810 ; he had
to be assisted into the pulpit, and to sit while preaching.
He was buried in Spottsylvania, but his remains were
disinterred and taken to Baltimore, where the Conference
entombed them, with solemn ceremonies, beneath the
pulpit of Light-street Church. Dr. Bangs, to whom
he had been as a father, has recorded his best eulogy:
" His attitude in the pulpit was graceful, dignified, and
solemn ; his voice full and commanding ; his enunciation
clear and distinct ; and sometimes a sudden burst of
eloquence would break forth in a manner which spoke a
soul full of God, and, like a mountain torrent, swept all
^before it. During the forty-five years of his ministry in
America, allowing that he preached on an average one
sermon a day — and he often preached three times on a
Sabbath — he delivered not less than sixteen thousand
four hundred and twenty-five sermons, besides lectures
to the societies, and meeting classes. Allowing him six
thousand miles a year, which it is believed he generally
exceeded, he must have traveled, during the same time,
about two hundred and seventy thousand miles, much of
it on the very worst roads. From the time of the organi-
zation of the Church, in 1784, to the period of his death,
thirty-two years, allowing an average of seven Conferen-
ces a year, he sat in no less than two hundred and
twenty-four Annual Conferences, and in their infancy
their business devolved chiefly upon himself; and he
probably consecrated, including traveling and local
preachers, more than four thousand persons to the
sacred office ! Here then is a missionary bishop worthy
of the name, whose example may be held up for the
imitation of all who en^a^e in this sacred work. Plis
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 219
deadness to the world, to human applause, to riches and
honors, and his deep devotion to God, made an impres-
sion upon all who witnessed his spirit and conduct that
he was actuated by the purest and most elevated mo-
tives. This pervading impression wrought that confi-
dence in the uprightness of his intentions and the wis-
dom of his plans, which gave him such a control, over
both preachers and people, as enabled him to discharge
the high trusts confided to him with so much facility
and to such general satisfaction. Hence the apparent
with which he managed the complicated niachinery
of Methodism, guided the councils of the Conferences,
fixed the stations of the preachers, and otherwise exer-
cised his authoritv for the general good of the entire
body."*
In his manuscript notes of this Conference I find
equally emphatic words in praise of this great man. but
qualified by frank though tender animadversions on hii
administration. " There are," he says, " two particulars
in which I always thought Bishop Asbury erred. I
speak indeed with great deference when I presume to
differ from such a man, for I cannot but feel a profound
veneration for his character. I think, however, that he
showed not enough interest for the intellectual improve-
ment of the preachers and too great a solicitude to keep
them poor. If he had encouraged measures to provide
a competency for men of heavy and expensive families,
and promoted human learning as a subordinate help t"
the ministry, I think he would have thus rendered esfi
tial service to the Church. Having no family of his own
to provide for, he did not sympathize with parental
affections and anxieties as he otherwise would have done ;
and hence I am inclined to think that he was not suffi-
ciently attentive to the sufferings of many of the preach-
ers and their families in the frequent and distant re;:
als to which they were subjected. That there wi
* History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, vol. ii, book v. chap. 2.
220 LIFE AND TIMES OF
faults in his administration I think all who witnessed it
must allow. He knew well the history of the early-
Church ; he knew that wealth and ' science, falsely so
called,' had corrupted it, and he feared their influence on
Methodism. But whatever defects there might have •
been in these particulars of his policy, his inextinguisha-
ble zeal for the salvation of men, his large views of
God's immense love for our lost world, his thorough
knowledge of theology, his deep experience of the
grace of God, his manly as well as his Christian virtues,
his unparalleled labors, his patient sufferings for so long
a time, unequaled by those of any of his preachers, his
masterly ability in directing the operations of the Church
over much of the continent, justly secured to him the
confidence of his brethren and the veneration and won-
der of all who knew him."
, VIEWS OF THE MINISTERIAL "CALL."
These animadversions, even should they be deemed
not altogether relevant to Asbury, are nevertheless rele-
vant here, as illustrations of the advanced views of min-
isterial qualification and support which Dr. Bangs took
at this early period, and which he promoted throughout
the remainder of his life, more effectually perhaps than
any other mafi of his denomination. He insisted on the
effective support of the preachers, not merely for their
comfort, but for their moral safety. An incredibly large
proportion of them " located " in that day after a few
years of travel. The itinerant ministry lost, in this way,
many of its most effective men. Believing the holy
office to be a " vocation," not merely a " profession,"
he could not admit the right of a preacher to retire from
it unless providentially permitted by extreme disability
of health or other insuperable necessity. No man
divinely called to the office could leave it without a
Divine revocation of the " call." One of the few sur-
viving Methodists of the Rhinebeck district, of this
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 221
period, writes me: " I lived in Winsted, Conn. While
at our Quarterly Meeting there, Dr. Bangs stayed at
iny home. After love-feast, on Sunday morning, he
Stepped into the house before preaching to take some
refreshment. While seated at the table an aged broth-
er came in, and seating himself said, ' Elder, I wish
to ask you a question !' ' Very well,' said Dr. Bangs,
1 1 will answer you if I can.' He then asked, 4 If a man
in his youthful days is brought to the knowledge of the
truth, and feels " woe is me if I preach not the Gospel,"
and the impression continues for years, but he refuses
to obey it and it finally leaves him, but he still strives
to live a good life and dies thus, is it possible for him to
get to heaven ?' The doctor inclined his head a few
minutes, apparently in deep thought, and then replied,
1 Brother, there may be a possibility of his getting to
heaven, but another will take his crown.' The expres-
sion conveyed very much meaning to my mind, and has
never left me."*
TTith such an opinion, he trembled for his brethren
who, after making good proof of their ministry, retreated
from the held, in the prime of life, to secular occupa-
tions ; and he demanded that the Church should relieve
itself from any share in the responsibility of their
failure, for with it was that responsibility more than
with them.
* Letter of Eeuben Hall to the author.
222 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XV.
NEW YOKE CONFEKENCE, 1817.
Dk. Bangs's four yeai «$' term of service 011 the Rhine-
beck district expired June 3, 1817. On that day the
New York Conference began its session in Middlebury,
Vt. — a singular collocation of names to our eyes — the
New York Conference sitting in an interior town of Ver-
mont. But, as we have seen, " there were giants in
those days," and most of their plans present gigantic
proportions. The New York Conference still comprised
more than half of Connecticut, a large part of Western
Massachusetts, all Vermont west of the Green Mountains,
and Eastern New York, from the mouth of the Hudson
to the Canada line. Though it had given the Cahaclas
to Genesee Conference, it still reported more than
twenty-one thousand communicants.
Among the recruits whom he welcomed on probation
before the Conference, at this time, were his faithful
friends, Fitch Reed, John M. Smith, and J. J. Matthias;
and among the candidates received into full membership
was his own brother, Heman Bangs, who still survives,
an effective laborer, after so many years of itinerant
service.
Nathan Bangs was appointed by this Conference to
New York city, where he was welcomed by his former
hearers with the warmest cordiality. His presiding
elder was Samuel Merwin, a great man of that day ; his
colleagues were Daniel Ostrander, Seth Crowell, and
Samuel Howe. His old friends of the city could not fail
to notice his rapid improvement as a preacher, and,
though he was not in charge of the station, he was fore-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 223
most among his colleagues, in the public recognition, as a
man of intellect and of pulpit power.
studies — whitings:
He gave himself diligently to study, especially in the-
ology and mental philosophy. In the latter department
of inquiry he had long since mastered Locke, the favor-
ite metaphysical author of his youth ; he now mastered
Berkeley, Beattie, Hume; and the "Scotch Metaphy-
sicians"— who were the great authorities of the science —
Reid, Stewart, and Brown. He has left notes of these
studies, which prove his vivid interest in them and his
aptitude for them. Reid's "Essays on the Intellectual
Faculties and Active Powers" were especially his de-
light ; he made an ample synopsis of them in his com-
monplace-book, and considered them the best solution
of the chief problems of the science which had yet been
given to the world.
He foimd it necessary again to appear in the lists as a.
polemic. His letters on Hopkinsianism were severely
treated in a published sermon by Rev. Mr. Haskil, of
Burlington, Vt. The Methodist preachers of that state
urged him to reply to it, alleging that the discourse was
having injurious influence upon their communities. He
answered it in a small volume entitled "Predestination
Examined." "Soon after," he says, "Mr. Williston
sent out a second volume, in reply to the ' Errors of
Hopkinsianism,' called ;A Vindication of some of the
Essential Doctrines of the Reformation.' This attempt
to identify the peculiarities of Hopkinsianism with the
ntial doctrines of the Reformation called forth my
'Reformer Reformed,' the title being - I by the
conviction that if the Reformation carried with it errors
rach a pernici qnenoe as it was believe d most
flow from the doctrine of an efficient operation of uni-
versal and immutable decrees the Reformatio!] h-
needed reforming — a sentiment not retracted on more
224 LIFE AND TIMES OF
mature consideration. It by no means becomes me
to express an opinion of the character or results of this
protracted discussion, though I may be allowed to in-
dulge a hope that it had its use in bringing our doctrines
more prominently before the public, in rectifying some
erroneous impressions respecting our ministry and usages,
and in awakening public attention to the precise points
of difference between us and our Calvinistic opponents.
We were called upon to sustain an arduous conflict with
our brethren of other denominations, as well as with
some of our own household, who, for various' reasons,
1 went out from us,' in order to rescue our ministry from
reproach, and our doctrines, government, and usages
from the numerous objections which were preferred
against them."
He esteemed his book "Predestination Examined"
" the best" of his " writings, in point of argumentation."
" Mr. Haskil," he adds, " was an able writer, and an in-
genious though, I cannot but think, somewhat unfair
antagonist. I printed an edition of three thousand of
this work, and it passed through a second edition. I
found it necessary to guard against the influence of so
much controversy on my own peace of mind ; but as I
acted from a consciousness of duty, and in the fear of
Godx I felt consoled and strengthened in the performance
of this labor. As I had not the charge of the Church in
the city this year, I had the more leisure to pursue my
studies and attend to my other duties. At the Confer-
ence at Middlebury, Vt., I moved for a committee to re-
vise our hymn book, and, as I was a member of the com-
mittee, a portion of my time was spent in this laborious
task. The manner in which it was performed may be
seen in the preface to the book, as published in 1820."
He thus provided the hymn book, the virtual liturgy of
American Methodism, as it was used for about thirty
years throughout the continent, except the British
Provinces.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 225
I A HOES STUDIES OLD JOHN-STREET.
" Among other things," he continues, " I revived the
catechetical instruction in the Duane-street Church, near
which I lived. It had been discontinued from the time I
had left the city. Among others who attended my class,
]\lrs. Palmer, and her sister, Mrs. Langford, who have
since been among the most devoted and useful of our
Church-members, may be mentioned. I cannot but look
back with grateful satisfaction upon these efforts to im-
part religious instruction to the young."
While pursuing these studies, controversies, and pas-
toral labors, he appeared habitually in the pulpit, armed
with the power of the Divine Word. Preaching was,
indeed, his mightiest instrument ; his congregations
were thronged, and the Societies nourished. At the end
of his first year they reported an increase of more than
three hundred members, and their aggregate member-
ship was more than three thousand. This success was
marred, however, by serious internal troubles. "As
these difficulties," he writes, "resulted at last in the se-
don of a considerable number of our members, headed
by a preacher, it may not be amiss to allude to some of
the circumstances which caused the rupture. A party
spirit had prevailed for some time between the 'down-
town' and 'up-town' members, but it did not amount to
anything very serious until the trustees commenced re-
ling John-street Church. As it was resolved that
the new edifice should be an improvement on the archi-
:ral stylo of the old one, some discontented spirits
made this a pretext for discord, and, unhappily for the
■' the Church, the preacher in charge, being dis-
use he was not invited to dedicate the
church, lent the weight of his influence to the disaffected
bile the greal majority of the preachers and
f the measures of the I 1 1"
went in a love-feast, that In- wished the
15
226 LIFE AND TIMES OF
new building were cast into the ocean. This, of course,
increased the irritation, and tended to make the dispute
more irremediable. Several ineffectual attempts were
made to restore harmony, but it seemed impossible."
The measure however proceeded, and on the 13th of
March, 1817, the walls of the old structure were demol-
ished, after an address by Rev. Daniel Ostrander to a
large assembly of spectators. On the 4th of January,
1818, the new church was dedicated by Dr. Bangs, in a
discourse on the text, " The Lord hath done great things
for us, whereof we are glad." Sermons were delivered
in it the same day by Samuel Merwin and Joshua Soule.
It is described as "one of the most commodious and
beautiful chapels in the city" at that time, and a model
for many later structures in the country. Engravings,
however, represent it so extremely plain as to excite our
wonder that it could have been the occasion of any
scruple, much less of violent discord. The dispute, never-
theless, continued. "In this unhappy state," says Dr.
Bangs, "I came into the charge of the city circuit in
1818. What rendered my position much more embar-
rassing was, that one of my colleagues threw himself into
the ranks of the disaffected party, and did what he could
to frustrate my plans for peace. Truth requires me to
say that he acted in a most discreditable manner, im-
pugning my motives and misrepresenting my conduct,
while I was endeavoring, in every possible way, to save
the Church from division. While the storm raged around
me, threatening to sweep everything overboard, I trem-
bled for our cause, wept and prayed, and the Lord strength-
ened my heart and kept my head above the waters."
ORIGIN OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
The issue was delayed a short time. Meanwhile, amid
these strifes, occurred one of the most important events
in the history of Methodism : the " Missionary Society " of
the Methodist Episcopal Church arose, spanning the
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 227
local storm, and throwing out its vision of beauty and
blessing to distant eyes, a bow of gladdening and sub-
lime promise. One "of its original managers says: "Dr.
Bangs may justly be called the father of the Missionary
Society. He was at its organization in the Second-
street (now Forsyth-street) Church, and for many years
was its main pillar. Indeed, we may well say that
his whole public life was spent in the missionary cause.
His ministerial travels in the wilds of Canada, before the
ordinary roads were made, were a genuine missionary
service, and he then zealously befriended the Indian.
The red men to this day speak of him as the great mis-
sionary from the states. I remember meeting Captain
Beaver, one of the tribe at Grape Island ; he wished to
ask some questions regarding Dr. Bangs, and, not recall-
ing his name, immediately described him as the 'big
missionarv from New York, with his head on one
shoulder.' " *
He " had long," says his manuscript, " felt the neces-
sity of this measure for the extension of our work among
the poor, the colored people, the Indians, and as a relief
to many of our suffering preachers." As it was designed
to aid domestic as well as foreign missions, an adaptation
which it still retains, he considered it not only a promis-
ing means of foreign propagandism, but as particularly
favoring his views of ministerial support in the destitute
portions of the domestic field of the denomination. He
made it, therefore, the theme of much preliminary
conversation with his colleagues and the principal
Methodist laymen of the city. His still surviving
friend, Rev. Dr. Laban Clark, introduced it by a resoln-
* Letter of Francis Hall, Esq., to the author. All who knew Dr.
Bangs will understand the allusion. His head habitually inclined to
his right shoulder. It is reported, as an amusing fact, that the young
preachers from his district could be readily distinguished in I
nual Conference by their unconscious imitation of their admired Elder's
bearing in this respect. If the imitation extended to most of his other
peculiarities it was quite pardonable.
228 * LIFE AND TIMES OF
tion to the attention of the metropolitan preachers at
their weekly meeting, " consisting," says Dr. Bangs's
manuscript, " of Freeborn Garrettson, Samuel Merwin,
Laban Clark, Samuel Howe, Seth Crowell, Thomas
Thorp, Joshua Soule, Thomas Mason, and myself. After
an interchange of thoughts the resolution was adopted,
and Garrettson, Clark, and myself were appointed a
committee to draft a constitution. When this commit-
tee met we agreed to write, each, a constitution, then
come together, compare them, and adopt the one which
should be considered the most suitable. The one pre-
pared by myself was adopted, submitted to the Preach-
ers' Meeting, and, after some slight verbal alterations,
was finally approved. "We then agreed to call a public
meeting in the Forsyth-street Church on the evening of
the 5th of April, 1819, which was accordingly done. I
was called to the chair, and after the reading of the con-
stitution Joshua Soule moved its adoption, and support-
ed his motion by a powerful speech, concluding by an
appeal to the people to come forward and subscribe it.
He was seconded by Freeborn Garrettson, who also
plead in favor of the scheme, from his own experience in
the itinerant field from Virginia to Nova Scotia. The
constitution was unanimously adopted, and the follow-
ing officers were chosen : Bishop M'Kendree, President ;
Bishops George and Roberts, and Nathan Bangs, Vice-
Presidents ; Thomas Mason, Corresponding Secretary ;
Joshua Soule, Treasurer; Francis Hall, Clerk; Daniel
Ayres, Recording Secretary.*
* The following managers were also chosen : Joseph Smith, Kobert
Mathison, Joseph Sandford, George Suckley, Samuel L. Waldo, Stephen
Dando, Samuel B. Harper, Lancaster S. Burling, William Duval, Paul
Hick, John Westfield, Thomas Koby, Benjamin Disbrow, James B.
Gascoigne, William A. Mercein, Philip J. Arcularius, James B. Oakley,
George Caines, Dr. Seaman, Dr. Gregory, John Boyd, M. H. Smith,
Nathaniel Jarvis, Bobert Snow, Andrew Mercein, Joseph Moses, John
Paradise, William Myers, William B. Skidmore, Nicholas Schureman,
James Woods, Abraham Paul,
D.D. 229
He was not only chairman of the Preachers' Meeting
at which this great scheme was initiated, the author of
it- constitution, and president of the first public meeting
for its adoption, but, as its only resident vice-president,
he became its first actually presiding officer. As such he
was chairman of its Board of Managers, and at their re-
quest prepared its first "Address," and its first "Circu-
lar " to the Annual Conferences. The historian of the
society -ays : "It is obvious that almost the entire busi-
ness of the Society was conducted by him for many
years. In addition to writing the constitution, the ad-
dresa and circular, he was the author of every Annual
Report, with but one exception, from the organization
of the society down to the year 1841, a period of twenty-
two years. He filled the offices of Corresponding Secre-
tary and Treasurer for sixteen years, without a salary or
compensation of any kind, until his appointment to the
first named office by the General Conference of 1836.
That he has contributed more than any other man living
to give character to our missionary operations, by the
productions of his pen and his laborious personal efforts,
is a well authenticated fact, which the history of the
Church fully attests."*
w- There is no act," wrote Dr. Bangs years afterward,
'•there is no act of my life upon which I reflect with
greater pleasure than my agency in the formation of
this Society, as it has been instrumental in extending
the work of God in many directions at home and
abroad." In this single instance of his manifold public
life he was to be identified with a grand religious his-
tory, i. to see the annual receipts of the Society
enlarged from tl. of its first war to $250,374,
(including il ing of the Methodist Episcopal
( urch, South, to half a million,) and its total i
of his life, more than
Bstoiy of the IGanoxu of the Method.
Cliur
230 LIFE AXD TIMES OF
and a half millions, not including the southern So-
ciety. He was to witness the rise (chiefly under the
auspices of this Society) of American German Meth-
odism, an epochal fact in the history of his Church,
next in importance to the founding of the Church by
Embury and Strawbridge. Without a missionary for
some time after its origin, the Society was to present
to his dying gaze a list of nearly four hundred mis-
sionaries and more than thirty-three thousand mission
communicants, representing the denomination in many
parts of the United States, in Norway, Sweden, Ger-
many, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Africa, India, China, South
America, and the Sandwich Islands. Assisting in this
great work, and rejoicing in its triumphs, he was to
outlive all its original officers but three, Joshua Soule,
Francis Hall, and Daniel Ayres; and all its original
managers save three, Dr. Seaman, James B. Oakley, and
William B. Skidmore.
In the course of a year or two after the organization
of the Society he succeeded Joshua Soule as its treasurer.
In April, 1836, he was elected the fourth Vice-president
and Corresponding Secretary; in 1838 the resident Cor-
responding Secretary ; and thenceforward, as we shall
see, devoted his whole energy to it down to 1841. All
its Annual Reports to this date save one are attributed
to his pen. " It is supposed," said his associates of
the Board at his death, " that he never missed a meet-
ing, when in the city, from the very first, except on
account of sickness. Everything with him gave place
to the missionary meeting, being, with his early associ-
ate, Rev. Joshua Soule, of opinion 'that the time would
come when every man who assisted in the organization
of the Society, and persevered in the undertaking,
would consider it one of the most honorable periods of
his life.' "
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 231
METHODIST EDUCATION.
While this important measure was being introduced,
the party discord, occasioned by the rebuilding of John-
street Church, continued, and was an oppressive grievance
to him. It did not deter him, however, from attempting
another momentous step forward ; the establishment of
the •■ Wesleyan Seminary" of New York city. Methodism,
like the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, was
cradled in a University ; a providental fact, as has been
said, for the cause of learning. Its most distinguished
founders had secured to it a prestige in favor of education,
for the TVesleys, Whitefield, Coke, Fletcher, were all col-
legiately educated men. As early as 1 784, the year of the
formal organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
its two bishops, Coke and Asbury, projected a college ;
its foundation was laid the next year at Abingdon,
twenty-five miles from Baltimore, and in 1787 it was
opened with public ceremonies by Asbury. In 1795 it
was destroyed by fire. A second edifice was soon after
erected in the city of Baltimore, but it shared the fate
of its predecessor. Absorbed in other labors, the de-
nomination gave little or no attention to academic edu-
cation till, in 1818, Dr. Samuel K. Jennings and other
Methodists attempted a college in that city, but failed.
Dr. Bangs deplores, in his History of the Church, the in-
ference which Asbury and the other American leaders of
Methodism drew from these early failures. They consid-
ered them "an indication of Divine Providence thai it was
no part of the duty of the Methodist Episcopal Church
to engage in founding and raising up colleges. On the
same principle of reasoning we should refuse to build
a church, or a dwelling-house, or even to embark in any
business which might be injured by the elements. Job's
- were permitted to try his patience, and
thie mighl have been permitted for a similar effect on
the Church."
232 LIFE AND TIMES OF
He himself never lost sight of this great interest, and
now urged its claims on the attention of the laymen of
New York, who had been consulting for some time on
the subject. They were encouraged by the example of
their New England brethren, who, about this time, had,
chiefly through the agency of Dr. Martin Ruter, formed
a seminary at New Market, N. H., which was after-
ward transferred to Wilbraham, Mass., where it has
been an incalculable blessing to the denomination. Dr.
Bangs brought the project before the city Quarterly
Conference, " where," he says, " it met with violent
opposition from the same man who had opposed the new
John-street Church. The majority, however, approved
of the plan, and I was appointed to draft a constitution,
which was adopted, but not without encountering much
nostility, chiefly from preachers. This was the begin-
ning of our exertions in favor of education. From the
opposition I met in this feeble endeavor in behalf of so
important a cause I often felt much discouraged ; but
Martin Ruter, coming into the city about this time,
strengthened my hands, and said that he could not doubt
that God had sent me hither for this very purpose. I
therefore persevered, and finally succeeded, by the help
of God and those generous brethren whose liberality
enabled me to get the seminary into operation. We
thought ourselves fortunate in the selection of teachers,
but, alas! how short-sighted is man. The good work
was to be severely tested. The male teacher aposta-
tized, and the preceptress, Matilda Thayer, who was at
that time a literary notability by the success of some
of her publications, turned Swedenborgian and left us.*
* He adds in a note : " The apostasy of the principal was of the
grossest kind, and he was expelled from the Church. lie soon became
a poor, heart-broken man, and died a premature death. On his death-,
bed I visited him frequently, and a more sincere penitent I never saw.
Believing in his repentance, and perceiving satisfactory signs of his
having obtained the pardon of his sins, I called on the preacher in
charge, Mr. Washburn, who again took him into the Church and gave
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 233
The seminary, however, struggled on for several years,
and was finally removed to White Plains, X. Y.
This seminary was, with that of Xew Hampshire, a
pioneer of Methodist education in the Xew World — the
beginning of that series of educational provisions in the
denomination, north and south, which was to number
>re the death of Dr. Bangs not less than a hundred
and twenty institutions, comprising boarding academies,
colleges, and theological schools. Nathan Bangs was
not only one of the earliest, but one of the most active
and persistent promoters of education in the denomina-
tion. Down to the last year of his life, his zeal for this
tt interest never abated. His early Xew England
training had left an indelible impression of the import-
ance of sound learning upon his liberal mind. He be-
lieved that the success of Methodism rendered it more
responsible than any other American Christian body for
the education of the common people, immense mas
of whom had been gathered under its guardianship.
Xor did he fear the influence of learning on its more
intimately religious or ecclesiastical interests. As far as
these might be risked by education he was willing to
risk them, assured that the result could not fail to be
favorable to genuine religion.
" On the whole," he writes, " the two years I spent
in the city Churches were a period of incessant labor, of
no little anxiety and trial, and of much spiritual conso-
lation."
PRESIDING ELDER THE STILLWELLITES.
He was elevated at the Conference of 1819 to the
. eldership of the district, which included the
tropolis. Led into the state of New Foi
far as Cortland, int.. rticuf as for as Stain
him the sacrament of the Lord's nipper. IT.; died in peace. How
great the mercy of our God in Chrisl lira. Thayer rej
Church in the S .niou.
234 LIFE AND TIMES OF
and over the whole of Long Island. It included more
than a score of itinerants, among whom were some of
the strongest men of that day: Freeborn Garrettson,
William Phoebus, Samuel Merwin, Laban Clark, Alex-
ander M'Caine, Marvin Richardson, Elijah Woolsey, J.
B. Matthias, and Phineas Rice. " This," writes Dr.
Bangs, " was a year of sore trial to me on several ac-
counts. My family was now large, my children needed
my attention, and the provision for my support was
quite inadequate. I endeavored, however, to discharge
my duties as well as I could, and enjoyed much of the
Divine presence and consolation. But as nothing occur-
red out of the ordinary course of things, except the
secession, in 1820, of a preacher, William M. Still well,
and many members of the Church, the result of the old
quarrel about John-street Church, it is not necessary to
make an extended record of the events of the year.
The split in the Church was marked by that violence of
spirit which usually accompanies such occurrences, and
deeply depressed my mind. I had to take officially an
active part in the measures which were used in vain to
prevent it, and of course I had to share in their respons-
ibility and in the reproach of those who stood faithfully
by the Church. Two trustees and several class-leaders,
with the members of their classes, amounting in all to
three hundred, withdrew and organized an independent
sect. They seemed formidable indeed, but did not long
continue to prosper ; most of them, sooner or later, be-
came sensible of their error and returned to the Church.
As I continued in the city, as Book Agent, after my
charge of the district, I was well acquainted with most
of them, and they generally came to me to make known
their dissatisfaction with their new position. At one
time a brother, who was a trustee and class-leader be-
fore he left us, and was a leader still among the seceders,
came to me and said that there were three class-leaders,
with their classes, about seventy persons, who wished
d.d. 235
to return ; but the class-members wished to come in a
body and to retain their leaders. He desired to know if
there was any way by which this could be done. I re-
plied that I knew of none except the usual probation.
4 Indeed,' said he, ' I would rather stand on probation
six years than remain any longer where I am.' I went
to Samuel Merwin, who then had charge of the city
stations, and related to him their proposition, advising
him to receive them en masse, and let them remain un-
der their present leaders. After further consultations
with them I had the happiness to see them all restored
to their former fellowship and well cured of their discon-
tent. I believe that nine tenths of those who withdrew
came back. They thus escaped final shipwreck. How
dangerous to make a breach in the Church of God for
such trifling reasons ! For the part I took in this un-
happy affair I suffered much. The tongue of slander
was active, and some of my old friends became so preju-
diced against me that they would not hear me preach."
The " Stillwellite Methodists " remained for some
time an anomalous sect, but at last disappeared from
public notice, and they have now almost disappeared
from the memory of the Xew York Methodists.
236 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XVI.
SERVICES IX THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1820.
Dr. Bangs had hardly been on his district one year
when he was again sent by his Conference as one of its
delegates to the General Conference, which began its
session in Baltimore, May 1, 1820. Eleven annual Con-
ferences were rejn'esented by delegates who were mostly
leaders of their respective sections of the Church. The
old Western Conference had already been divided into
four Conferences extending over most of the Missis-
sippi valley. Mississippi Conference was represented by
two delegates, Thomas Griffin and John Lane ; Missouri
had also its small delegation of Jesse Walker and two
others ; Tennessee was more strongly represented by
Cartwright, Axley, Holliday, and two others ; Ohio by
Finley, Collins, Stamper, Quinn, and four more. The
chief men of the cis-Alleghany Conferences were also
there: Hedding, Merritt, Ruter, Pickering, from ISTew En-
gland ; Garrett son, Bangs, Merwin, Soule, Rice, Sand-
ford, Richardson, from New York ; Chamberlain and Case
from Genesee; Cooper, M'Combs, Ware, Lybrand, Wells,
Sharp, from Philadelphia ; Griffith, Waugh, Burch, Ros-
zel, Emory, from Baltimore ; Hall, Cannon, Drake, from
Virginia ; Capers, Andrews, Myers, Kennedy, Dunwody,
from the Carolinas. Seldom or never had greater inter-
ests of the Church come under the consideration of
the body than those which occupied its attention at
this session — missions, education, literature, the hymn
book, the " presiding eldership question," and vital
disciplinary matters ; and few if any delegates took a
more important part in these deliberations than Xathan
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 237
Bangs. In the twenty-seven days' proceedings of the
Bession there are but four or live on which lie does
not appear in the record of the Journal as introduc-
i _ important resolutions, advocating improvements,
or appointed on committees. Evidently he now stood
out before the Conference and the denomination as one
of it^ foremost men. He is associated in these pro-
ceedings with nearly all those great measures which
were destined to give elevation and permanent impor-
tance to the Church. He was chairman of a committee,
consisting of such men as Soule and Merritt, on the in-
- of his earliest field of labor, Canada; and also chair-
man of a committee to prepare a plan for the institu-
tion of denominational seminaries, a subject which he
brought before the body by a memorial from his own
Conference, written by himself. He thus initiated the
great interest of education hi the General Conference,
having anticipated it by his efforts for the Wesleyan
Seminary in Xew York; and in his report, as chairman
of the General Conference Committee, he obtained its
recommendation that all the " annual Conferences estab-
lish, as soon as practicable, literary institutions under
their own care." and its order that " it be the special
duty of the episcopacy to use their influence to carry''
resolution into effect by recommending the subject
to each annual Conference." He brought before it also
the Missionary & iety, in the organization of which he
- we have seen, the principal actor. He
moved the appointment of a committee to revise and
harmonize the book of Discipline, and was a member of
Soule, Ostrander, and the bishops.
With! . . : jzel, Capers, Emory, and Wells, i
Lntion by which the presid-
me an "advisory council," or cabinet of the
bishops, in the appointment of the preachers, lie
advocated the election of the presiding elders by the
annual Conferences, and introduced the resolution by
238 LIFE AND TIMES OF
which was appointed the compromise committee that
reported in favor of this measure, modified by giving to
the episcopacy the right of nomination. He was ap-
pointed a member of this committee. He was nominated
for the office of bishop, though against his will, and
failed of an election to that dignity by but seven votes.
Finally he was elected the Editor and Publishing Agent
of the Book Concern by fifty votes, the late Bishop
Emory having thirty-six.
EDUCATION — MISSIONS.
Referring to these initial efforts in the Conference for
education, he says : " That opposition should be mani-
fested to endeavors to raise the standard of educa-
tion by any of the disciples of the illustrious Wesley,
whose profound learning added so much to his character
as an evangelical minister, may seem strange to some.
This, however, was the fact, and their unreasonable op-
position, exemplified in a variety of ways, tended not a
little to paralyze, for a season, the efforts of those who
had enlisted in the cause ; while the apathy of others
retarded its progress, and made its final success some-
what uncertain. And it has not been without much
labor and persevering industry that this opposition has
been measurably overcome, and the dormant energies
of the Church awakened and excited to action in favor
of this noble enterprise. Its onward march, however,
has been hailed with no less delight by its friends than
deprecated by its enemies, while its success thus far has
added greatly to the character which Methodism was
acquiring in the public estimation. All we now want,
to place our literary institutions on a permanent founda-
tion, and make them eminently useful, is the simultane-
ous and general effort of the members and friends of the
Church to contribute liberally for their support and
endowment."
In his advocacy of the new missionary cause before
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 239
the Conference he was effectively seconded by Dr.
Emory, who had now become a leading man in the
body. Emory submitted an elaborate report on the
subject. After reasoning at length upon it, he asked,
" Can ice, then, be listless to the cause of missions?
We cannot. Methodism itself is a missionary system.
Yield the missionary spirit, and you yield the very life-
blood of the cause. In missionary efforts our British
brethren are before us. We congratulate them on their
zeal and their success. But your committee beg leave
to entreat this Conference to emulate their example."
The Conference adopted, with some emendations, the
constitution prepared for the Society by Dr. Bangs.
He thus saw his great favorite measure incorporated,
it may be hoped forever, into the organic structure of
the Church. He writes : " These doings of the Confer-
ence in relation to the Missionary Society exerted a
most favorable influence upon the cause, and tended
mightily to remove the unfounded objections which ex-
isted in some minds against this organization."
HISTORY OF THE BOOK CONCERN.
At the adjournment of the Conference there was no
one of its delegates who returned to his home a happier
man than Xathan Bangs. He had witnessed the success
of his fondest schemes — schemes which his large mind
saw would strengthen the very foundations of the
Church, and extend its walls and battlements over the
land, if not indeed over the world. lie had escaped the
onerous responsibilities of the episcopate — always when
_• d upon him by his brethren, as it repeatedly was, a
found dread to him, for he was constitutionally diffi-
dent of high and burdensome trusts. Its interference
with domestic life, by its incessant travels, was repug-
nant to his : and he believed thai ho could serve
the Church more effectively, and even with more real
distinction, by the pen and the powerful agency of the
240 LIFE AND TIMES OF
denominational press. He says in his manuscript that
his "appointment was, on many accounts, a very agree-
able one, more especially as my wife was in feeble health,
and my children were young and needed my care."
The Methodist "Book Concern" is now the largest
religious publishing house in the world. Nathan Bangs
may be pronounced the founder of its present effective
organization. Before his appointment it had no premi-
ses of its own, no printing-press, no bindery, no news-
paper. Under his administration it was provided with
them all. As early as 1*789, John Dickens, then the
only Methodist preacher in Philadelphia, was appointed
" Book Steward " of the denomination. The first vol-
ume issued by him was the " Christian Pattern," Wes-
ley's translation of a Kempis's celebrated " Imitation ;"
the "Methodist Discipline;" the "Hymn Book;" "Wes-
ley's Primitive Physic ;" aftd reprints of the first volume
of Wesley's "Arminian Magazine," and Baxter's "Saints
Pest," followed. The only capital of the Concern was
about six hundred dollars, lent to it by Dickens himself.
In 1790 portions of Fletcher's "Checks" were reprinted.
In 1797 a "Book Committee" was appointed, to whom
all books were to be submitted before their publication
— a guardianship of its press which has ever since been
maintained by the Church. In 1799 Ezekiel Cooper
became Book Steward. " The Concern," says Dr. Bangs,
"is greatly indebted to his skillful management for
its increasing usefulness, as at the end of his term,
in 1808, its capital stock had increased, from almost
nothing in the beginning, to about forty-five thou-
sand dollars." In 1804 the Concern was removed from
Philadelphia to the city of New York, where Ezekiel
Cooper continued its superintendence, being assisted
by John Wilson for the last four years. At the Gen-
eral Conference of 1808 Mr. Cooper resigned his of-
fice, and was succeeded by John Wilson as principal,
and Daniel Hitt as assistant editor and book steward.
NATHAN BANGS, P.P. 241
At this General Conference, on the recommendation of
Mr. Cooper, the term of service in the agency was limit-
ed to eight years, a regulation which was afterward
found to be attended with many inconveniences, so much
that in 1S3G the rule was abrogated. The agents
had thus far received pastoral appointments like other
preachers, and were held responsible for the double
duties of agents of the Concern and of stationed min-
thongh they were relieved from much of their
pastoral labors by their colleagues in the ministry. In
- they were entirely released from pastoral labors.
In 1812 Daniel Ilitt was elected the principal, and
Thomas Ware the assistant, editor and book steward;
and the General Conference, chiefly at the instance of
Dr. Bangs, ordered the resumption of the Magazine in
monthly numbers; but neither this order was obeyed,
nor were the hopes of the friends of the establishment at
all realized by any in _ prosperity of the Concern
from 1812 to 1816. He gives a list of its publications in
3, and adds: "In this list, the whole of which — that
is, a copy of <ach volume — independently of Coke's Com-
mentary— which was imported — might be purchased
for $29 75 — there are but three American publications,
namely, Abbott's and Watters's Lives, and the Scriptural
Catechism. Nor was it possible under the circum-
ices — for, to our certain knowh eral attempts
were made — to increase the variety; such was the low
feeling in the heads of the department, and the apathy in
. on the subject of literature in our Church .'it
that period. And be it remembered that the above
issued so repeatedly, without adding
any y, that it i- believed if em
bic longer it would have run
• want of pecuniary support." In shun
Soul i 1 upon the agericv.
rod the Concern much embarrassed with debt,
with but scanty] liquidate it, the number and
242 LIFE AND TIMES OF
variety of publications small, and its general prospects
quite discouraging. They, however, applied them-
selves to their work with prudence and diligence, and
succeeded in keeping it from sinking under its own
weight, and in infusing new energy into some of its de-
partments, by increasing the variety of its publications,
and lessening the amount of its debts. In 1818 the
order for resuming the publication of the Magazine,
which had been made again in the General Conference of
1816, by the urgency of Dr. Bangs, was carried into effect,
" agreeably," he says, " to the desire and to the joy of
thousands. Indeed, the appearance of this periodical,
filled as it was with useful matter, was generally hailed
with delight by the members of our Church as the har-
binger of brighter days, especially in regard to the
spread of literature and sound knowledge among us as a
people; though it must be confessed that there were
some then who would even sneer at this most laudable
attempt to diffuse useful knowledge and scriptural piety
by means of the press. I could relate many anecdotes
in confirmation of this statement, as dishonorable to
their authors as they were mortifying to the more en-
lightened friends of the Church. But as that day is
past, let these 'times of ignorance' be 'winked at'
and forgotten, from the joy that a more bright and
vigorous state of things has so happily succeeded."
The appointment of Dr. Bangs, with Thomas Mason
as assistant, in 1820, led to a renovation of the whole
establishment. His friend, Rev. Dr. M'Clintock, himself
long and honorably connected with it, says: "When Dr.
Bangs was made book agent, in 1820, the entire business
was carried on in a small store in John-street. The
Concern was deeply in debt, and yet its scale of opera-
lions was very small. The new agent went to work
with his accustomed promptitude ami energy. He
boldly resolved 'to increase the debt ' in order to pay it.
New and costly works, such as Benson's Coram*' atary,
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 243
etc., were undertaken : a system of exchanges with other
publishers was arranged ; old stock was sold off at low
prices, and new life was given to the movement of the
business in all its branches. A bindery was added in
1822, and a printing office in 1824. In that year, too,
the premises of the old Wesleyan Semmary,- in Crosby-
street, were purchased, and fitted up for the uses of the
cern at large expense. In 1824 Dr. Emory was as-
.ted with Dr. Bangs, and zealously seconded the
energetic movements of the principal agent. A charac-
teristic illustration of Dr. Bangs's fearless enterprise in
carrying out plans approved by his judgment, is fur-
nished by the purchase in Crosby-street. There were
croakers in abundance to predict evil ; the proposed pur-
chase was ' rash, reckless, unconstitutional,' and every-
thing else but prudent and right. The agents used but
one argument in reply — a practical one. They offered to
make the purchase on their personal responsibility, agree-
ing, in case the General Conference should not sanction
it, to take the entire establishment as their own. The re-
sult justified the sagacity of the agents. Had they waited
for a previous authority from the General Conference, we
should probably have had no printing-house till now. In
23 the 'Tooth's Instructor,' a monthly work, was be-
ll. The same spirit of enterprise led to the publication
of the Christian Advocate and Journal, which appeared,
for the first time, on the 9th of September, 1820. The
pa] ■ first nominally edited by 1>. Badger ; but the
editorial matter, from 1826 to 1828, was chiefly furnished
by Dr. Bangs, though he was still discharging the ardu-
senior book agent. Daring the whole
iod of his . L820-1828, he was also editor of
the ! h an amount oflabor would
have worn out any man not endowed with greal intellect-
ual and bodily vigor — qualities which, in Dr. Ban
e supplemented by indomitable industry and p
verance."
244 LIFE AND TIMES OF
The success of the Advocate was remarkable. "In a
very short time," writes Dr. Bangs, "its number of
subscribers far exceeded every other paper published in
the United States, being about twenty-five thousand;
and it soon increased to thirty thousand, and was prob-
ably read by more than one hundred and twenty thou-
sand persons, young and old." The continual enlarge-
ment of the establishment, while it secured energy in
its operations and mightily extended the sphere of its
usefulness among the reading community, increased
also its debt ; but it also increased the means of pay-
ment, and must ultimately both tend to its entire eman-
cipation from its pecuniary embarrassment, and en-
large its sphere of usefulness in respect to the num-
ber, variety, and character of its publications. It
should be noticed, also, that, at the earnest request of
brethren west of the mountains, the General Confer-
ence of 1820 authorized the establishment of a branch of
the Book Concern in Cincinnati, and Martin Ruter, of
the New England Conference, was appointed to its
charge, to act under the direction of the agents in New
York.
The debts of the Concern were thus very consider-
ably increased ; but they were increased by the procure-
ment of an office for printing and binding, presses,
stereotype plates, and all sorts of tools for each depart-
ment, such means as must, if properly managed, finally
lead to the liquidation of the debt, and thus place the
Concern on a permanent foundation, beyond the reach of
danger by the fluctuations of the times, so often oc-
casioned by the frequent pressures of the money market.
Its credit was good, its liabilities were always promptly
met, its working hands paid, and all its parts were in
vigorous operation.
In his manuscript he says his new position " was at-
tended with numerous fears and labors, for which I felt
myself quite inadequate. When I went into the Concern
A.THAN BANGS, D.D.
I found it deeply in debt, with but slender means of its
liquidation, the number of books published few and of
dull sale, so that I greatly doubted the success of the
blishment. My colleague, who kept the accounts,
a very energetic man, of good business habits, but
not of enlarged views in respect to the manner of con-
ducting the affairs of the Concern. We went to work
as well as we could, though often much embarrassed for
want of means to meet the demands against us, being
forced to discount largely at the banks and borrow
from other sources to enable us to carry forward the
business. At' this time stereotype plates were not
in use among us, and therefore we had to reset the
types for every new edition of a book, and we were in
the habit of reading the proofs of every reprint, as well
as the first edition of each new book. This, together
with editing the Magazine, gave me work enough, and
even more than one man ought to do. Besides this, I
- in the habit of preaching twice every Sabbath, and
frequently on week evenings, in which I often found
it enlargement of heart. I never would have sub-
mitted to such drudgery in the Book Concern but
from the belief that I was subserving the cause of
Christ in editing and sending forth books upon religious
which thousands might read, and thereby be
acted more fully in the truth of God.''
labor of his life, except in the cause <<!' missions,
attended with grander results. He has sketched
of the "Concern" down to 1841. At the
Genera] Conference of 1828, when he w ated
editor uf the Ad . on Emory and Beverly W:
(both afterward bishops) were el« On the
'. nidation- he had laid the n< t to
-
the • stablishment, and in widening the
sphere of their operati iy. Wesley's and Fletch-
Wurkr> were publis]
246 LIFE AND TIMES OF
was improved by commencing a new series under the
title of the " Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review,''
the number of Sunday-school books and tracts was mul-
tiplied, these being still under the charge of Dr. Bangs,
The rapid increase of the business very soon led to the
necessity of enlarging its buildings. Accordingly all the
vacant ground in Crosby-street was occupied. But even
these additions were found insufficient to accommodate
the several departments of labor, so as to furnish the
needful supply of books, now in constantly increasing de-
mand. To supply this deficiency, five lots were pur-
chased in Mulberry-street, between Broome and Spring
streets, and one building erected in the rear for a print-
ing office and bindery, and another of larger dimensions
projected. At the General Conference of 1832, Dr,
Emory being elected bishop, Beverly Waugh was ap-
pointed to fill his place, and Thomas Mason assistant.
Acting on the principles which had been laid down
by their predecessors, they carried out the plans which
had been proposed with great energy and success. At
the same Conference, in consequence of the increased
labors in the editorial department, Dr. Bangs was
removed from the editorship of the Christian Advocate
and Journal to the editorial charge of the Methodist
Magazine and Quarterly Review and the general books,
John P. Durbin was elected editor of the Christian
Advocate and Journal and Sunday-school books and
tracts, and Timothy Merritt his assistant. Dr. Durbin
introduced one very important improvement into the
Sunday-school department, the commencement of a
Sunday-school and Youth's Library, which has grown
to seven hundred and thirty-two volumes. This di-
vision of labor had a most beneficial tendency. " What
an alteration in this respect !" exclaims Dr. Bangs.
"In the infancy of the Concern the agent did all
the work of editing, packing up the books, and keep-
ing the accounts, besides doing the work of a sta-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 24 1
tioned preacher. In 1804 lie was allowed an
ant : but no clerk was employed until 1818, when, on re-
Buming the publication of the Magazine, -the agent-, by
lv;oe of the Book Committee, employed a young
man to a<>i-t in packing the books and shipping them
off. From 1^-20 to 1828 the writer had the entire re-
biKty of the establishment on his shoulders, both
of editing and publishing the Magazine and books, and
eing its pecuniary and mercantile department. It
. however, to hi- assistants to say, that they labored
faithfully and indefatigably to promote the interests
Concern, and the labor of keeping the books and
attending to the pecuniary business devolved chiefly on
under his advisement. In 1825 a clerk was first
employed to keep the books ; and after the Christian Ad-
vocate and Journal was commenced, and the Sunday-
school books and tract- began to multiply, it became
:u-y to employ several clerks to keep the accounts,
and to pack up and send off the periodicals. In taking
charge of the Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review,
the editor found himself exceedingly cramped, as he was
not at liberty to offer any remuneration to contributors,
but must take such as he could get, chiefly by selections
from other books or furnishing matter from his own pen.
This defect was as mortifying to him as it was a disap-
pointment to its readers and patrons ; and he rejoices
that his advice, long urged without effect, was at last
adopted, and that hence a brighter day has dawned upon
this department of our literature."
:i after the General Conference of 1832, the new
a began the erection of the front building on Mul-
* : and in the month <»i' September, 1833, the
entire establishment was removed into the new buildings.
In these commodious rooms, with efficient agents and
editors at work, everything seemed i>> be going on pro*
lenly the entire property ramed
by fire! The Church thus Lost not le>s than two
248 LIFE AND TIMES OF
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The buildings, all
the printing and binding materials, a vast quantity of
books, bound and in sheets, a valuable library which the
editor had been collecting for years, were in a few hours
destroyed. There will be occasion hereafter to allude
to this disastrous event. Fortunately the " Concern "
was not in debt. By hiring an office temporarily, and
employing outside printers, the agents soon resumed
their business, the smaller works were put to press,
and "the Church's herald of the news, the Christian
Advocate and Journal, soon took its flight again
(though the first number after the fire had its wings much
shortened) through the symbolical heavens, carrying
the tidings of our loss, and of the liberal and steady
efforts which were making to reinvigorate the paralyzed
Concern."
' At the General Conference of 1 836, Beverly Waugh
being elected a bishop, Thomas Mason was put in his
place, and George Lane was elected his assistant. To
this Conference the plan of a new building was sub-
mitted and approved, and the new agents entered upon
their work with energy and perseverance. Samuel
Luckey, D.D., was elected general editor, and John A.
Collins his assistant. The new buildings went up with
all convenient dispatch, in a much better style, more
durable, better adapted to their use, and safer against
fire than the former. The front edifice is one hundred
and twenty-one feet in length and thirty in breadth,
four stories high above the basement, with offices for the
agents and clerks, a bookstore, committee rooms, etc.
The building in the rear is sixty-five feet in length, thirty
in breadth, and four stories high, and is used for print-
ing, binding, etc.
In our day the Methodist Book Concern, aside from
that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which
was founded by a division of its funds, comprises two
branches, eastern and western, and five depositories,
NATHAN BANCS. D.D. 2 -1U
with an aggregate capital of more than $760,000. Four
" Book Agents," appointed by the General Conference,
manage Its business. It has twelve editors of its peri-
odicals, four hundred and sixty clerks and operatives,
and between twenty and thirty cylinder and power
press intly in operation. It publishes above five
hundred " General Catalogue " bound books, besides
many in the German and other languages, and about
fourteen hundred Sunday-school volumes. Its Tract
publications number about nine hundred in various
tongues. Its periodicals are a mighty agency, including
one Quarterly Review, four monthlies, one semi-monthly,
and (eight weeklies, with an aggregate circulation of
over one million of copies per month. Its quarterly
and some of its weeklies have a larger circulation than
any other periodicals, of the same class, in the nation,
probably in the world.
The influence of this great institution, in the diffusion
of popular literature and the creation of a taste for
reading among the great masses of the denomination,
has been incalculable. It has scattered periodicals and
books all over the valley of the Mississippi. Its sales in
that great domain, in the quadrennial period ending
with January 31, 1860, amounted to nearly 81,128,000.
If Methodism has made no other contribution to the
3S of knowledge and civilization in the New
World than that of this powerful institution, this alone
would suffice to vindicate its claim to the respect of the
enlightened world. It- ministry has often been fal-
disparaged as unfavorable to intelligence; but it should
be borne in mind that its ministry founded, ha- con-
ducted, and actually OWJ0L8 thi- Stupendous ]iiean> of
popular intelligence. They have been, as we have Been,
it< sale-men; they have -rat tend i*^ publication-'
their M< Wesley enjoined this Bervice upon
them in their Discipline. '-Carry book* with you on
every round," he -aid; "leave no Btone unturned in this
250 LIFE AND TIMES OF
work ;" and thus have they spread knowledge in their
courses over the whole land, and built up their unpar-
allelled " Book Concern." There has never been an
instance of defalcation on the part of its " Agents ;" it
has never failed in any of the financial revulsion* of the
country; and it is now able, by its large capital, to meet
any new literary necessity of the denomination.
Before Dr. Bangs's appointment to the Book Concern
he had written a work, which he now published, entitled
" A Vindication of the Methodist Episcopacy." It was
appropriate to the times, for already had the " Radical
Controversy," so called, begun in the Church, involving
grave questions respecting its episcopal powers, the
appointment of the preachers, and lay representation.
On some of these topics he had no little sympathy with
the " Reformers," for, as we have seen, he was always
" progressive," and had become distinguished as an
advocate of the election of presiding elders, being the
candidate of his party on that question for the office of
bishop at the last General Conference ; but he doubted
the expediency of many of the measures of the " Re-
formers." He deprecated the tendency of their violent
discussions and proceedings ; he foresaw the schism
which at last ensued; and believing that graver evils
than any alleged defects of the Church would result
from the party organization which was rapidly forming,
he deemed it his duty to waive, for the present, his pre-
dilections of opinion, and stand on the defense for the
Church against the menacing peril. With Hedding and
other leaders of the original party of reform in the
General Conference, he was led at last by these dangers
to modify, as I have shown, his views of the " presiding
elder" question. Pie did not believe it befitting the
Church of God to follow, even in a genuine reform, the
example of wrangling and party combat which political
communities consider necessary for their progress. The
Church, the kingdom of God, the civitas Dei, he believed
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 251
to be founded on principles which require a different
policy, a policy of peace and charity — discussion and
labor, but not passion and discord ; and however much
its history betrays the working of human infirmity, even
more, perhaps, than that of civil states, good men should,
and for that very reason, the more resolutely guard
against tendencies toward violent measures. In a com-
paratively pure and successful Church, as he deemed his
own to be, did he especially doubt the expediency of
discordant party organizations, for any merely econom-
ical or governmental change, however desirable it might
appear. If it could not immediately be effected with-
out such a decree of agitation and internal disturbance
as must divert the attention of the Church from its higher
works of piety and charity, it was his opinion that the
reform should be left to the more gradual progress of
opinion ; that where there is already essential purity
peace is the essential policy, fulfilling the apostolic rule,
"first pure, then peaceable." TTith perhaps a natural
aptitude for controversy — an energetic temperament and
qui^k sympathies — disposing him to take a decided stand
on any and every question, yet, so thoroughly was he
swayed by these convictions, and so complete an accord-
ance had they with his warm and generous piety, that
if fight he must, it was, in almost every case, a fight
against fighters. With good Bishop Hall, his habitual
prayer was, "O God, who art at once the 'Lord of
Hosts ' and the ' Prince of Peace,' give us war with
spiritual wick* dues-, and peace with our brethren."
And with Gurnall, he believed that " we stand at better
advantage to find truth, and keep it also, when praying
for it, than fiercely wrangling and contending about it.
' ' . an<l raise the dual of pas
prayer sweetly composeth the mind, and la\ - 1!:<- passions
which disputes draw forth ; and I am Bare that a man may
'her in a clear, -till day than in a windy and cloudy."
This, in brief, is tin- true explanati - public 1:
252 LIFE AND TIMES OF
far as it was connected with the agitated questions of his
Church — the just characterization of the man. Always
in sympathy with progressive measures, always seen
staunch and erect, on advanced ground, yet was he
always resisting heedless ultraists. Reform in the
Church, but loyalty to the Church — this was his sum-
mary maxim.
It is not necessary, nor would it be interesting, to
trace here in detail the progress of the " reform " move-
ment which about this time shook the very foundations
of American Methodism, and at last rent it with schism.
The record of those lamentable events belongs to the
history of the denomination rather than a personal his-
tory like this, and they will hereafter receive due notice.
Dr. Bangs has fully recorded them in the former, and
they are well known ; in the manuscript which he has
left for my guidance in the preparation of this narrative
he only alludes to them, and with evident reluctance.
The controversy was to him a sad reminiscence, as in-
volving some most important principles, but marred, and
rendered disastrous by human infirmities.
NATHAN' BANGS, D.D. 253
CHAPTER XVII.
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1824.
Dr. Bangs represented the New York Conference, as
a delegate, in the General Conference of 1824, which as-
sembled on the 1st of May in the city of Baltimore.
of the leading delegates in the sessions already
noticed were again there ; others destined to become
leaders now appeared in the body for the first time :
Fisk, of Xew England; Lnckey, of Xew York; Peck
and Paddock, of Genesee ; Elliott and Morris, of Ohio ;
Paine, of Tennessee ; Winans, of Mississippi ; Bear, of
Baltimore ; Pitman, of Philadelphia. Three of these
were, in later years, elected to the episcopal office,5'* and
there were present no less than seven delegates
who attained to that honor in either the northern or
southern sections of the denomination.
The last four years had been prosperous, and the
Church had steadily advanced. Twelve Conferences were
now represented, comprehending the whole settled terri-
tory of the nation, and all Upper Canada; more than
three hundred and twelve thousand communicants were
reported, and more than twelve hundred traveling preach-
ers. The increase for the quadrennial period was more
ty-one thousand members, and more than four
hundred preacl
of the session was greatly enhanced by
: -c of the firsl official representatives pf the
English Confer ice and Hannah. Dr. Ban
. took a prominent part in the proceedings. lie
.airman of it» most important committee, the one
:t did not accept the office.
254: LIFE AND TIMES OF
to which was referred the great question of the day, on
lay representation, and with him were associated Morris,
Capers, Paddock, Beauchamp, Pitman, and six others.*
He was also chairman of a committee, including Sand-
ford and Fisk, on the Rules of the Discipline for the Ad-
mission and Trial of Church-Members, and of another, in-
cluding Ostrander and Sandford, on Revisal of the Disci-
pline. He was a member of the Committee on African
Colonization, with Soule and Myers. He represented par-
ticularly the interests of missions, education, and litera-
ture as connected with the publishing agency of the
Church. Since his efforts for the second of these interests,
in the preceding General Conference, seminaries had been
springing up in various parts of the denomination. He
and his friend, Lab an Clark, now proposed a General
Conference College, or University ; but they were un-
fortunately defeated. Had they been successful the
measure might have secured for us a commanding cen-
tral "collegiate institution, and prevented the waste of
double the amount of money requisite for its endowment,
and the dishonor of numerous failures of experimental
institutions, which have defeated one another. The
report of the Book Concern showed the effect of his en-
ergetic devotion to that great interest. Its whole prop-
erty was now valued at more than $270,000. Deducting
its debts, (about $48,500,) its balance of stock was esti-
mated at more than $221,000. Instead of the small
store on John-street, it had now its " Book Rooms "
on Fulton-street, and a bindery on Crosby-street. It
was about to establish a printing department and to
provide premises of its own. Its catalogue of books
had been enlarged by the addition of important works.
Dr. IJangs was re-elected " Editor and General Book
Steward " by ninety-four votes, Beauchamp receiving
* He did not, however, write its Eeport, and had left the session he
fore that document was presented. It is supposed that Dr. Capers wrote
it. Letter of Bishop Morris to the author.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 255
twenty-one, Emory eight, and Fisk one. Emory was
afterward elected his assistant by seventy-two votes.
Dr. Bangs writes: "This election I could not other-
wise consider than as a special providence in my favor,
particularly on account of my domestic circumstances.
My brethren, who were acquainted with these, I suppose,
believing that I had tilled my station with fidelity, sym-
pathized with me, and used their* influence for my reap-
pointment. Had it not been done I know not how I
could have continued in the itinerant ministry, for my
wife's health was so feeble that she could not be removed,
and my children were growing up around me and need-
ed my care; but God provided for me, for which I desire
to record my gratitude."
SERVICES IX THE BOOK CONCERN.
He now prosecuted, more vigorously than ever, his
enlarged plans respecting the Book Concern, finding in
Emory a congenial spirit of enterprise and a rare capac-
ity for business. They established a printing office in
the month of September, 1S24, in the second story of
the academic edifice on Crosby-street, and before the
year closed purchased the whole property from the trust-
ees of the "Wesleyan Seminary," and projected addi-
tional buildings. They printed costly standard works,
among others the whole of Adam Clarke's Commentaries.
On the 9th of September, 1826, they issued the first
number of the "Christian Advocate," a couraj
experiment, but one <>f signal Buccess, m^ we have
In a Bhort time it had a greater circulation than any
other religious newspaper of not only the New World,
but of the whole world; and it- proceeds afforded an-
nually a large increment to the capital of the Concern,
and annual appropriations of thousands of dollars for the
relief of superannuated preachers and the widow*
orphans of the itinerant ministry. Ou the 5th of July,
tone of an additional building was laid,
256 LIFE AXD TIMES OF
#
and in the ensuing year twelve printing-presses were in
operation. When Bishop Soule, the immediate prede-
cessor of Dr. Bangs, retired from the agency, the report
of the Concern to the General Conference represented
that, until about a year previous, the agents had " in
addition to the editorial labor, and the various branches
of clerkship, to perform with their own hands all the
laborious work of the Concern, such as packing, hooping,
and shipping boxes. Xow there were in the book depart-
ment three clerks assisting the two agents ; in the print-
ing department fifty employes ; thirty-four in the bind-
ery, and seven clerks in the periodical department. The
assets of the establishment advanced from about $270,000
in 1824, to nearly $457,000 in 1828; its liabilities being
in 1824 about -$48,500, and in 1828 about $101,200.
He had reason indeed to rejoice over these grand suc-
cesses; but they imposed upon him extraordinary labors,
for in addition to the chief responsibility of the publish-
ing agency he was practically the editor of the Maga-
zine, the Youth's Instructor, and the Christian Advocate.
Work was to him, however, recreation, and to these
severe tasl>:s he added habitual preaching, two sermons
on the Sabbath, and often many on week nights.
Successful as his present public service was, and ines-
timably important by diffusing useful literature through
nearly the whole length and breadth of the nation, it
could afford no incidents of popular interest for our nar-
rative. I find, however, among his manuscripts the rec-
ord of some episodes in his present term of laborious
business life.
HE VISITS CAXADA.
The last war with Great Britain had profoundly dis-
turbed the relations of the Church to its vast Canadian
field. By an arrangement between the General Confer-
ence and the English Conference, Lower Canada had
been set off to the jurisdiction of the latter ; Upper Can-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. £57
ada still, however, appertained to the Methodist Episcopal
Church afl a part of the territory of the Genesee Confer-
ence. At the last General Conference some of its preach-
pplied, by memorials, to be made an independent
Conference, with power to elect a bishop, who should
reside within the province. The General Conference
was not prepared to concede so much ; it organized a
Canada Conference, but retained it under the jurisdic-
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Xo little dis-
turbance ensued in the Canadian Societies, and before
the new Conference could meet a convention assembled,
an independent Conference was organized, and a declara-
tion of grievances and rights published. Dr. Bangs, as
one of the founders of Canadian Methodism, was re-
quested by the bishops to visit the province and endeav-
or to allay the agitation. Bishops George and Hedding
also hastened thither, and, for a time, the menacing peril
abated.
GEXESEE CONFERENCE — HIS FATHEE'S GEAVE.
"I set off," writes Dr. Bangs, "on the 22d of
July, 1824, and arrived at the seat of the Genesee Con-
ference on the 25th. This is a very growing Confer-
ence, including a most fertile and highly cultivated
country. Its populous villages, rich farms, neat and even
ant houses, the intelligence of its people, and the
lately constructed canal by which its produce is com i
ed to the eastern markets, all conspire to render it one
of the most splendid parts of the nation. It is a
_-ht to the eye of the traveler. The name of Clin-
ton will be handed down to posterity as a chief
dtural and commercial interests of
ountry. Among the things which tend to enhance
the value of this region is the zeal with which religion
is maintained and spread. Houses for divine worship
everywhere adorn the beautiful Bcenery, and their ei
ence -hows tl - with which Iv erai-
17
258. LIFE AND TIMES OF
grants (mostly from New England) began their settle-
ments, or the eagerness with which they afterward
received the Gospel. From Lansing, which is on the
east side of the beautiful lake of Cayuga, I passed on
through the delightful villages and the charming inter-
vening landscapes of Ithaca, Geneva, Canandaigua, Gen-
eseo, Moscow, to Perry, whence I went up the Genesee
River, about two miles above the falls, to visit my sister,
Sarah Smith, whom I had not seen for eight years. Here
my father died, in the peace of the Gospel, on the 9th of
May last, aged more than eighty-four years. Two years
since I was within about seventy miles of him. He then
expected to see me, and was so disappointed that he
shed tears, a thing very unusual with him. I was much
affected on hearing of this fact, and blamed myself for
not going, as I might have done by a little extra exertion ;
but, alas ! I postponed the meeting for my present jour-
ney ! About three weeks before I was to set off I re-
ceived the mournful tidings of his death. I suffered very
poignant feelings of regret, and could not forgive myself.
I determined, however, to visit his grave. While stand-
ing by it I wept bitter tears. I left, with my brother-in-
law, some money for a plain head-stone; all I could do,
besides my tears, to relieve my agonized feelings.
" Having discharged this filial duty — for the privilege
of doing which I feel truly thankful to God — and preach-
ing in the house of my sister, I passed on to Batavia,
and thence to Buffalo. About twenty-six years ago I
went through the wilderness from Genesee River to Buf-
falo ; then there was not a solitary house in all that dis-
tance. The roads, if such they could be called, were
rude. We had an ox team, and lay five nights in the
woods. Now this is one of the most delightful coun-
tries I ever beheld. What beautiful villages and thriv-
ing towns have sprung up, as by magic, since that ad-
venturous journey !
d.d. .259
SCENES IX CANADA.
"I arrived in Canada with emotions which I cannot
describe. Here was the place to which I wandered in
my youth ; here God revealed himself to my soul ; here
I began my ministry twenty-four years ago. I had the
kkable pleasure of meeting with some who were
converted under my early preaching, and- with many
with whom I had often been refreshed in the worship
of G«>d.
" From Niagara we traveled by land, around the head
of the lake, by York down to Hallowell, a distance of
about three hundred miles, holding meetings nearly every
day and sometimes twice a day. The country has great-
ly improved, and many of the people have become wealthy
since my old travels. At Hallowell we met the preach-
ers who had assembled for the first Canada Conference.
There was great anxiety and searchings of heart on ac-
count of a division which had taken place, headed princi-
pally by local preachers. Two of the messengers who
had been sent to the last General Conference j>y the
brethren with their petition for an independent Confer-
ence— II. Ii. and D. B. — the latter a local elder, were
much disappointed by the result, and bearing back
some wrong impressions about the manner in which
their affairs were treated, a spirit of disaffection was in-
into many minds, particularly among the local
preachers. A Conference was held by the latter on the
Quinte District, where H. IJ. presided; they
formed themselves into an independent body and invited
brethren generally to join them. Many of the
people had also declared in their favor. This was the
when we readied the province. In order
to correct the wrong impressions which prevailed, Bishop
( and Williai < d into Canada .-it Og-
densburg, visiting the preachers and people in the
;' the province; while Bishop Bedding and o
260 LIFE AND TIMES OF
crossing at Buffalo, visited all we could, made explana-
tions, held meetings, and satisfied the greater proportion
of the people ; so that, by the time we reached the Con-
ference, the power of the adverse party was very much
broken, and they themselves seemed generally satisfied
with what had been done by the General Conference.
Indeed, when the local preachers were rightly informed
they behaved like men of God, and were willing to relin-
quish the ground they had taken and stand on the old
platform.
" The plea they made for a separate organization was
that, as the Methodists in Canada acknowledged an
ecclesiastical head in the United States, they could not
expect the favor of their own civil government nor the
protection of the laws, for the government looked upon
them with a suspicious eye. The Methodist preachers
were not allowed to consecrate marriage, and it was said
that forasmuch as their Church property was deeded
to the Methodist Episcopal Church they could not
legally hold it. The people still seemed very generally
to wisMla separate organization. On these accounts the
bishops pledged themselves to use their influence to effect
such an arrangement at the next General Conference.
On this pledge peace was restored.
"Having finished our mission in Canada, I took my
leave, feeling great peace in my own soul and deep affec-
tion for my old and afflicted brethren, for there is no peo-
ple on earth who seem so near to me as they, and the
present visit has tended to endear them to me more than
ever. Such kindness and brotherly affection they evinced
in all places, on all occasions, that I could not but love
them."
The agitation in Canada was checked, but not ex-
tinguished. In August, 1827, Dr. Bangs was again sent
to his old friends to consult with and advise them. He
writes: " The Conference was held in Hamilton, district
of Gore. As this was the last session before our Gen-
D.D. 261
eral Conference, it became necessary for tliem to come
to a determination respecting the propriety of asking for
an independent organization. The Conference almost
unanimously resolved to petition for such an arrange-
ment. Though my own mind was not perfectly satisfied
of the expediency of the measure, I did not feel at lib-
erty to oppose it. On this visit I had an opportunity of
renewing my acquaintance with many of my old asso-
ciates, and many a sacred friendship was revived. These
old ties are my most precious ones — old wine is better
than new."
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.
About a year before the close of his present appoint-
ment he assisted in founding another of the great inter-
ests of his denomination : the " Sunday-School Union of
the Methodist Episcopal Church," which was destined
to become a mighty auxiliary to the Book Concern by
the publication of juvenile volumes and periodicals.
Sunday-schools had already been generally introduced
into the Methodist Societies. A Methodist young wo-
man, afterward the wife of Samuel Bradburn, (one
of Wesley's most eloquent preachers,) first suggested
their institution to Robert Raikes, assisted him in organ-
izing the first school, and accompanied him, with its rag-
ged procession, through the streets of Gloucester to the
parish church. John Wesley gave the plan and labors
of Robert Raikes their first public recognition in his
Anninian Magazine of 1*85. The Methodist Societies
of England were the first to incorporate the institution
into the Church as one of its permanent agencies, and
Bishop Asbury formed the first Sunday-school in tho
Unil Hitherto, however, American Method-
ism had made no provision £>v fche general organization
or affiliation of its Sunday-schools. Its Book Cone
* History of the Religious Movement, etc., culled Methodism, vol.
ii, page 463.
262 LIFE AND TIMES OF
had issued some volumes suitable for their libraries, but
no adequate, no systematic attention was given to this
sort of literature. It was obvious, on a moment's reflec-
tion, that an almost illimitable field for the enlargement
of the business of the Concern and the diffusion of
useful knowledge was at its command in this direction.
Accordingly the " Union " was organized on the 2d of
April, 1827. Dr. Bangs says : "The measure indeed was
very generally approved, and hailed with grateful delight
by our friends and brethren throughout the country. It
received the sanction of the several annual Conferences,
which recommended the people of their charge to form
auxiliaries in every circuit and station, and send to the
general depository in New York for their books ; and
such were the zeal and unanimity with which they en-
tered into this work that at the first annual meeting of
the society there were reported 251 auxiliaries, 1,025
schools, 2,048 superintendents, 10,290 teachers, and
63,240 scholars, besides about 2,000 managers and visit-
ors. Never, therefore, did an institution go into opera-
tion under more favorable circumstances, or was hailed
with a more universal joy, than the Sunday-School Union
of the Methodist Episcopal Church." This great suc-
cess, however, could not save it from the misfortunes of
bad management. Under "an injudicious attempt,"
writes Dr. Bangs many years later, " to amalgamate the
Bible, Tract, and Sunday-school Societies together, by
which the business of these several societies might be
transacted by one board of management," and by other
causes, it declined, if indeed it did not fail, until resusci-
tated by the zeal of some New York brethren and by
an act of the General Conference of 1840. It passed
through modifications till it assumed its present effective
form of organization. He lived to see it grow into
colossal proportions. Before his death it reported (aside
from its offspring in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South) 13,600 schools, nearly 150,000 teachers and officers,
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 263
and more than 820,000 scholars, more than 17,000 of
whom were reported as converted during the year.
There were in the libraries of these schools more than
2,400,000 volumes. They were supported at an annual
expense of nearly 8140,000, besides nearly $12,000
given to the Union for the assistance of poor schools.
There were circulated among them semi-monthly nearly
200,000 ••Sunday-School Advocates," the juvenile peri-
odical of the Union. The number of conversions
among pupils of the schools, as reported for the preced-
ing fifteen years, amounted to more than 233,000, show-
ing that much of the extraordinary growth of the Church
tributable to this mighty agency. The increase of
scholars during this same period was more than half a
million. The Union has four periodicals for teachers
and scholars, two in English and two in German, and
their aggregate circulation was, the year before the death
of Dr. Bangs, more than 260,000 per number; the Teach-
ers' Journal being a monthly, the scholars' a bi-monthly
issue. Its catalogue of Sunday-school books comprises
more than 1,300 dhTerent works, of which nearly a
million of copies were issued in the last year of his
life. Including other issues, it has nearly two thousand
five hundred different publications adapted to the use of
Sunday-schools. In fine, few if any institutions of Amer-
ican Methodism wield a mightier power than its Sun-
day-School Union.
GREAT SERVICES.
Tli us concluded his eight years of labors as " Book
at," a period scanty in incidents of popular interest,
but crowded with Bignal services for missions, education,
and literature, besides continual preaching, and zeal
attention t<> every interest of the Church that came with-
in hia reach. Ting both the character and multi-
plicity of these services, it may 1m- soberly doubted
whether any other one man of the denomination achiei
264 LIFE AND TIMES OF
for it during this time more important labors. The de-
nomination was now feeling the power of these great
measures in all its length and breadth; its Book Con-
cern had become a gigantic institution ; its volumes and
periodicals were flying like the leaves of autumn over all
its territories ; seminaries and colleges were rapidly mul-
tiplying, and threatening even to encumber it by their
excess ; its missionary enterprise had extended in aux-
iliary branches from Conference to Conference, and was
fast extending from Church to Church ; its Sunday-
School Union had sprung into life, and was reaching one
arm around the children while circling with the other
a new and immense department of its publishing agency.
To assert that the Church owes these great permanent
powers exclusively to Nathan Bangs, would of course be
extravagant ; but to say that he had a chief asffency in
them, an initial agency in most of them, and thus far a
more direct and continuous agency in them than any
other one man, is to state but an historical fact. They
would doubtless have arisen in the development of the
denomination without him; but this is a truism which
may be affirmed of almost any great advancements, and
of their ostensible agents in any communities, civil or
religious. " Circumstances make great men " doubtless,
though the maxim needs some qualification. It takes a
great man usually to make great use of " circumstances,"
whatever they may be. Nathan Bangs was providen-
tially placed in positions in the Church which gave him
the command of auspicious circumstances for the pro-
motion of its interests in some of the most momentous
respects; he used them without abusing them. Other
men might have done as well in his circumstances; but
he being in them availed himself of them, and the record
of his success is gratefully and forever in the history of
the Church.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 265
CHAPTER XVIII.
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1823.
Dr. Bangs was elected a delegate of the New York
Conference to the General Conference of 1828. Such
e prominence of his position in the Church that it
seemed now a matter of course that he should be in its
supreme body. He headed the list of eighteen repre-
sentatives of his Conference,* among whom were Emory,
Clark, Sandford, Rice, Ostrander, Luckey, Heman Bangs,
and Burch. Excepting the first two days, devoted
mostly to preliminary business, there is but one of the
Journals in which his name is not recorded in connection
with some important appointment, motion, or discussion.
He was chairman of the committees on Missions, on
Canada Affairs, on Appeals, and on the preparation of
the Address to the British Conference. As heretofore,
lie gave his attention particularly to education, missions,
and the publishing or literary agency of the Church:
He procured the appointment of a committee on the first
of these important interests, consisting of such men as
Bascom, Akers, and Capers. He represented be-
fore the Conference the new Sunday-School Union, advo-
cating it in a speech ; and presented the affairs and docu-
ments of the Book Concern and the Missionary Society.
At a former session he had procured a modification of
the rule requiring the biennial change of the appoint-
- of preachers, in favor of such as might I
ployed in educational institutions ; he now obtained the
same relief for chaplains to seamen, etc. Be
* Garrettson was elected, but, as he died before the session, his name
is not given in the list of deleg;.-
266 LIFE AND TIMES OF
staunch advocate of the " itinerancy," but believed in no
Procrustean rule for it.
PROTESTANT METHODISM.
He took an active part in the discussion of the
questions introduced into the Conference by the pe-
titions of the "Reformers." The agitation of these
questions had been conducted with disastrous violence.
As early as 1820 the "Reformers" started a jour-
nal— the "Wesleyan Repository" — in Trenton, N. J.,
which had assumed a tone of unjustifiable belligerence
against the institutions and authorities of the Church.
A "Union Society" was formed in Baltimore to pro-
mote their designs. In 1824 they began a periodical,
"The Mutual Rights," in the latter city, and the war
now raged with perilous severity. Nicholas Snethen
and Alexander M'Cain, men of distinction in the minis-
try, became champions of the movement. Henry B.
Bascom wrote in defense of it. Disorders ensued which
led to ecclesiastical trials and expulsions. Dr. Thomas
E. Bond appeared in "An Appeal to the Methodists" as
the defender of the Church. Compromises were attempted,
but personal passions had become so commingled with
the questions in debate that pacificatory counsels could
not be heeded. Emory answered M'Cain in a memorable
pamphlet, "The Defense of our Fathers." A new so-
ciety, "The Associated Methodist Reformers," was
organized in Baltimore, and about six months before the
Session of the General Conference — November, 1827 —
a convention assembled which prepared a memorial to
the Conference, which, together with similar petitions
from various parts of the country, brought the whole
controversy before that body. Emory presented from
the Committee on Petitions an elaborate review of the
subject — a report written by Dr. Bond — and the demands
of the petitioners were declined. The "Protestant
Methodist Church" soon after arose from this unfor-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 267
tunate dispute, and, through many struggles, has con-
tinued to our day. The insurmountable difficulty of the
controversy was the acrimony, the reckless spirit with
which it was conducted. Dr. Bangs hesitates not to
blame both sides, though he does not admit the principal
charge of the "Reformers." He says, "Whoever will
consult the writings of those days will find complaints,
on the part of the ' Reformers,' that an attempt was
made by the advocates of the present order of things to
suppress inquiry, to abridge the freedom of speech and
of the press, and that trials were instituted, in part,
at least, as a punishment for exercising this freedom
on the subjects that were then litigated. This was a
great mistake. It was for an abuse of this freedom, for
indulging in criminations injurious to individual charac-
ter, that the delinquents were tried and finally condemned.
This will appear manifest to every person who will im-
partially inspect the charges, the specifications, and the
testimony selected from 'The Mutual Rights' to sup-
port the accusations, and also from the Report of the
General Conference on petitions and memorials. It was
indeed expressly disavowed at the time by the prosecut-
ors, and by all who had written on the subject, that they
wi-hed to suppress freedom of inquiry, either in writing
speaking, provided only that the debaters would con-
fine their discussions to an investigation of facts and
arguments, without impeaching the character and mo-
tives of those from whom they dissented."
As conductor of the Magazine, and afterward of the
Advocate, he did not judge it proper to plunge those
publications — family periodicals — into the controvc
The "Itiner., established by the Church party in
i an independent organ of il "At
last.' >ntention, which had I
been impatient of control, became wearied, and the com-
bats [red from tli-- field of conl
the Itinerant • •iitinued. and the Christian Advo-
268 LIFE AND TIMES OF
cate and Journal, which had, indeed, said but little on
the subject, proposed a truce, which seemed to be gladly
accepted by the dissentient brethren, and they were left
to try the strength of their newly-formed system without
further molestation from their old brethren."
SEPAKATION OF CANADA.
He took an active part at this session in the question
of an independent organization of the Upper Canada
Conference, being chairman of the committee to which
that subject was referred. In his manuscript notes I find
the following remarks upon it : " The prayer of the pe-
titioners was granted ; that is to say, it was left for the
Canada Conference, if they saw fit, at their next session,
or at any time previously to the next General Confer-
ence, to form themselves into an independent Methodist
Episcopal Church, with liberty to elect, either from
among themselves or from the United States, a bishop, one
or more of our bishops having liberty to consecrate
him to that office. Knowing that the Canada brethren
had their eye on me as their bishop, and feeling a great
reluctance to comply with their wishes, and at the same
time fearing that the new organization itself was prema-
ture, if not, indeed, wrong, I felt it to be my duty at first
to oppose the adoption of this measure, so very import-
ant itself, and involving so many interests in its conse-
quences. In the first place, I doubted the constitutional
power of the General Conference to divide the Church
by declaring an Annual Conference separate and inde-
pendent. They might declare it themselves, and the Gen-
eral Conference might acknowledge their independence,
if it saw fit. Secondly, I doubted the expediency of the
measure. The Canada Conference was composed of but
few preachers, young in experience, and much shaken by
faction. The end also proposed to be attained — im-
portant privileges from government — I thought very
problematical. On these accounts, and others which
NATHAN BANGS, D.I). 269
might be mentioned, T could not consent to give my
voice in favor of such a resolution. But when the sub-
ject was presented on a reconsideration in a modified
sha; to leave it optional with the Canadian Con-
ference to declare itself independent on its own responsi-
bility, though I still had fears as to the final result, my
mind was relieved, and I gave it my feeble support.
M No one can tell, but such as have had similar experi-
ence, what were my anxieties on this trying occasion. I
Bometimes feared that I had allowed my repugnance to
triumph over my judgment, and had resisted the dictates
of my conscience, and perhaps grieved the spirit of God,
to gratify my own inclination, for I felt an unconquerable
aversion to accept the call of my brethren to go to
Canada as their superintendent. I finally, after the dis-
-ions of the Conference were over, and the Canada
delegates had made known their wishes as to my ap-
pointment as their bishop, suspended any definite answer,
telling them that they should hear from me in sufficient
time not to embarrass their plans. Accordingly, a little
before their next session, I wrote to them that I definitive-
ly declined, and they elected Dr. Wilbur Fisk, a man
every way qualified for the office. He, however, de-
clined also. Besides the reasons for my declining, al-
ready alluded to, serious objections arose from the
te of my family. My wife, children, almost all my
relation- whom I could consult, were decidedly against
my going to Canada. Still, I must confess that these
• not entirely satisfy my mind. There
omething which intimates that it may have been
my duty to have gone. He that loveth lather or mother,
wife or children, broth (
thank God! none) is not worthy of
d 1- in in;. makes me tremble for
leave the went to my merciful God,
praying him, as my heavenly Father, to pardon me if I
ks were written soon
270 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the events alluded to. The history of the Canada
Church in later years could hardly fail to confirm his ap-
prehensions.
PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH.
Notwithstanding the internal commotions of the
Church during the last four years, its attitude at the time
of this General Conference was one of commanding
strength. The ratio of representation had, by the growth
of the ministry, increased greatly the magnitude of the
Conference. There were present one hundred and
seventy delegates from seventeen Annual Conferences.
The New York and Genesee Conferences had each
eighteen, Philadelphia fifteen, New England seventeen.
The aggregate of communicants was nearly three hund-
red and eighty-two thousand; the aggregate of travel-
ing preachers, sixteen hundred. The increase for the
quadrennial period was nearly seventy thousand mem-
bers, and three hundred and fifty preachers.* The great
agencies and permanent interests of the Church, its Edu-
cational institutions, its Sunday-School Union, its Mission-
ary enterprise, its literature and Book Concern, had
grown vigorously. The Book Concern now required a
further division of labor. Dr. Bangs's constitutional
term of office, as agent, having expired, Dr. Emory and
Beverly Waugh (both afterward bishops) were elected
agents; but the editorship of the Christian Advocate
was made a distinct office, and Dr. Bangs appointed to
it. He was thus again returned to the virtual head-
quarters of the Church, which he had so long and so
ably occupied at New York.
* My estimates are made from the last General Minutes preceding
the sessions of 1824 and 1828, respectively.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 271
CHAPTER XIX.
EDITORIAL LABORS.
Of bis reappointment to Xew York in 1828 Dr. Bangs
wrote: "I considered it as another providential opening,
for which I felt deeply thankful, as my family circumstan-
ces rendered it extremely difficult, if not entirely impos-
sible, for me to move from one place to another. "Were it
not for these domestic embarrassments I should much pre-
fer to be exclusively devoted to the work of the ministry.
I write under a grateful sense of the loving-kindness of
my heavenly Father, who has so mercifully provided for
me and mine." His new office imposed upon him excess-
ive tasks. Besides the editorial labors of the weekly
journal, he was editor and publisher of the " Child's
Magazine," of Sunday-school Books and Tracts, and ex
officio a member of the Xew York Book Committee,
and, what must seem odd enough in our day, he had
charge of all the clerks and " all business connected with
the Advocate department" — so prescribed the law, as en-
acted at this session of the General Conference. Mean-
while he was the chief agent in the operations of the
Missionary Society, its representative before the general
Church, the commanding man in all the meetings of its
managers, the writer of all its Annual Reports.
DOMESTIC Bl \M> TRIALS.
On the 10th of January. | with
the information that one of hie was converted nt
the Wilbraham Academy; and, some time before, another,
AVilliam M'K 3, had entered Qpon a circuit
an itinerant preacher. I J « records hi- delight at I
272 LIFE AND TIMES OF
fact; for, though no man knew better the hardships of
the itinerancy, especially to a young man, no one held
it in higher honor.
"This," he writes, " was the most joyful news I had
ever received. I have often thought that should I live
to see my children converted it would be the consumma-
tion of my happiness on earth. It has, therefore, been
my constant prayer, that, above all things, they may be
led to give their hearts unto God. And I thank him
that two of my sons and my eldest daughter have af-
forded me this unspeakable happiness."
A few weeks later he was tried by a severe attack of
sickness, and suffered some time under a prostrating bil-
ious fever. " But," he says, " I had great calmness of
mind, and a sweet resignation to the will of God, and
felt that I could resign wife and children and all things
into his hands without any anxiety. The dread of death
was gone ; still I was conscious of a wish to live on and
work in the Church, that I might see more generally the
salvation of God. The fever subsided and my health
returned. On the day after the fever was broken, while
sitting alone in my room, musing on the mercy of God
to me, such a sense of his goodness rested upon me, and
the smiles of his reconciled countenance were so manifest
to me, that my eyes overflowed with tears, and I shouted
his praise aloud. I felt as if I would proclaim his good-
ness to all men. As soon as I had opportunity I testi-
fied my gratitude. To a dear friend, whose visits had
been most cheering to my spirit during my illness, I
expressed the extraordinary comforts of my soul.
The next Sunday I preached on Psalm cxvi, 12-14:
4 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits
toward me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call
upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people.' It was
a time of refreshing to my soul, and I believe to the
souls of manv of God's dear children. This season of
d.d. 273
affliction was very "beneficial to me. I had enjoyed sueli
uninterrupted health for years that I thought I could
endure almost any labor; but God now showed me my
real frailty, and my entire dependence upon him, for all
tilings — for strength of body as well as for peace of
mind."
LITEEAKY LABORS.
He prosecuted his editorial labors with energy during
this quadrennial period, preaching meanwhile habitually
on the Sabbath, and diligently sharing in the manage-
ment of almost every interest of Methodism in the city.
Freed from much of the business drudgery of the Book
Concern, he devoted himself, writes his friend, Dr.
M'Clintock, "to the Advocate and Magazine with eminent
success. The editorial columns of the Advocate during
these four years show a vast amount of fresh and vig-
orous writing. The wonder is that, with little or no
ance, Dr. Bangs was able to give so great a
variety of matter with such amplitude of discussion, not
merely on questions of the passing hour, but also on
topic- of permanent theological interest. Nor was his
literary labor confined to the newspaper. In 1829 he
published his 'Life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson,'
which is not only precious to the Church as a biography
of one of her noblest preachers, but also valuable as a
contribution to the history of Methodism. In 1832 ap-
I the -Authentic History of the Missions under
are of the Methodist Episcopal Church.' This
work was exceedingly opportune to the wants of the
Church at the time; it was greeted with general satisfac-
tion, and contributed in no small degree to stimulate the
i.ary spirit of thu people."
I rarrettson was written al the dying request
of that veteran preacher. From the time when, a
youth on his way fin I la to the New York Confer-
id fonnd Bhelter under tin- hospital
the patriarch at Rbinebeck, they had been mutually en-
l-
274 LIFE AND TIMES OF
deared friends. They were congenial spirits ; their labors
and trials had been somewhat similar, and no other two
men had been more ardently and uniformly zealous for
Methodism, which they deemed a genuine reproduction
of primitive Christianity. In the year in which Dr.
Bangs began his ministry, Garrettson published an ac-
count of his own travels and labors, extending over
thirty-nine years. This romantic record reached the
young itinerant in the wilds of Canada, and left an im-
pression on his mind which was never erased. Garrett-
son loved him with the affection ,of a father. He knew
that he could trust his manuscripts to him as an able and
conscientious writer, for hitherto Dr. Bangs had ranked
at the head of all American Methodists wrho had ven-
tured before the public as authors. The book had im-
mediate success. It passed through four editions m
about two years and a half. It was substantially a his-
tory of American Methodism, and its composition was a
prelude and a preparation for his later and greatest work,
the " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church." His
History of its Missions was the product of his own
personal knowledge of and agency in the missionary en-
terprise of his denomination. It afforded information
which has ever since given the Methodist Episcopal
Church an important rank in the general history of mod-
ern missions, and has been the basis of all later accounts
of our missionary operations. It was a labor of love,
written amid his many other literary cares, and its
copyright was given to the missionary treasury.
While it was not deemed proper to occupy the columns
of the Magazine, or of the Advocate, with the contro-
versy of the "Reformers," as this was yet an internal
dispute of the Church itself, and could be better confided
to independent or unofficial journals,* Dr. Bangs never-
* After it became, however, an external controversy, by the separate
organization of the " Reformers," it was more fully treated in these
periodicals.
NATHAN BANGS, D.I). 275
theless defended vigorously his denomination through
his editorial columns against exterior hostilities. Ho
wielded, indeed, a battle-ax against her assailants.
There seemed to be about this time a simultaneous
movement of Calvinistic sects against Methodism. Its
extraordinary progress created alarm ; it appeared rap-
idly to be taking possession of the country ; and was evi-
dently destined to be, numerically, at least, the dominant
faith of the nation. Its doctrines were, in some respects,
• iistinctive that conscientious men of other creeds,
dally C'alvinists, could not see this prospect without
anxiety, notwithstanding the unquestionable salutary
influence of the denomination on the masses. The
" Christian Spectator," a quarterly review, conducted by
professors of Yale College, commenced an energetic
attack on the Theology and Discipline of the Church,
and the Calvinistic papers generally copied its erroneous
representations. The discussion, as usual, became ex-
tremely acrimonious ; it lost itself in side issues ; new
questions displaced the old ones; new batteries were
opened in unexpected quarters, and the confusion of
battle raged generally. Methodism now learned the im-
portance of its periodical press, and the vigor of the
man who had charge of that mighty instrument. Every
serious blow against it was ably repulsed. Whatever
Hilts have since been made on American Methodism
have been but as the faint reverberations of these mem-
orable years. The American religious public have since
come to recognize the denomination with general respect.
The Methodistic champion years afterward justly con-
_ ulated the Church on the result. " Th< -n,"
aided to enlighten the public mind on t!
subjects, to make our doctrin
:ly known and more justly app
and tin;- bened the hands and cheered the hearts
of the menu friends of our Church. It tended
likewise to convince our opponents, that if ti nied
276 LIFE AND TIMES OF
to misrepresent or to slander us, we had the means ot self-
defense, and an ability and disposition to use them ; and
that when the facts were clearly stated, our doctrines
and manner of propagating them fully explained, we
should not be considered such dangerous heresiarchs as
we had been represented to be. We are glad to know,
however, that these days of strife are past, and that a
more friendly and amicable spirit prevails. We hope,
therefore, that hereafter we may mutually strive only to
' provoke one another to love and good works.' "
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1832.
In 1832 he was again deputed by his Conference to
the General Conference, which began its session on the
1st of May, in the city of Philadelphia. He was still first
on the list of his delegation, which included nineteen
men, among whom were Merwin, Sandford, Ostrander,
Clark, Rice, Richardson, Emory, and Levings. By
the great growth of the Church the General Conference
had now become unwieldy; it comprised no less than
two hundred and twenty-three members, representing
nineteen annual Conferences. The numerical gains of
the denomination in the last four years had been great,
notwithstanding the schism of the "Reformers" and
the rage of external controversies. Its aggregate mem-
bership was more than 513,000; its aggregate trav-
eling ministry more than 2,000. Their increase since
the last quadrennial session was more than 131,000 mem-
bers and 434 preachers.
GREAT SERVICES.
The uniformity with which Dr. Bangs took a leading
part at former sessions in the chief interests of the de-
nomination remains unbroken in the Journals of the
present Conference. He was chairman of the commit-
tees on its Missions, its Sunday-school, Bible, and Tract
Societies; and was a member with Ostrander and Waugh
D.D. Li77
of the Committee on the Revision of the Discipline. He
never lost Bight of the Bufferings of his ministerial breth-
ren, and with Dr. Capers procured the enactment of a
law by which the "allowances" and "deficiencies" of
the preachers, especially of the superannuated, and the
widows and orphans of the ministry, together with the
contributions and deficiencies of every circuit and station,
should be annually reported in the respective Confer-
ences and published in the Minutes. Thus originated
the annual exhibit of these tacts, which has ever since
continued to be a chief feature of the Minutes, and
which, by revealing the enormous deficiencies of the
preachers' " allowance," and the liberality or parsimony
of the individual circuits or stations, has effectually
tended to improve our ministerial finances. He attempt-
ed, thousrh without success, to effect a modification in
the trial of preachers, by which the General Conference
might be relieved of the excessive troubles of judicial
appeals ; a measure which that body has found it
lately necessary to adopt in our day. With the
same delegate who seconded this motion he attempted
a much more momentous measure, but without present
Such was the importance which lie attached
to the intellectual improvement of the ministry, that as
early as the session of 1816 he reported, as chairman of
the Committee on "Ways and Means," in favor of a
f Study for ministerial candidates, making it the
duty of the bishops, or a committee by them appoint!
to pi . and of the presiding elders to enforce it
among their young preachers. No candidate was to
; " unless he could give
ice of his attention to this requirement.
•newhat irrelevant mal
and Means ;" but as it was t
port measures \\ hich
might promote the support and effectiveness of the
. .
278 LIFE AND TIMES OF
provement of the ministry one of the surest guarantees
of its pecuniary support, he ventured to propose this
rule. It was adopted, and may be considered the founda-
tion stone of ministerial education in the denomination ;
a slight one indeed, but sure and steadfast, and ample
enough for the condition of the ministry at that time.
All our subsequent plans of ministerial improvement
have proceeded from this beginning. It has been more
potent by its indirect than by its direct effects. The
measure remained thus till the present session, when,
in connection with Benjamin M. Drake, he proposed
important modifications of it, extending the required
Course of Study to four years, and requiring the ap-
pointment of examining committees for the different
classes of candidates. This would have been indeed
a stride forward; but the Conference was not yet
prepared for it, and it was laid on the table. It would
have put a great proportion of the ministry — all the
deacons as well as all unordained candidates — under
a sytematic literary training, subjecting them to annual
examinations through a period as long as the usual time
required for collegiate graduation. Though it failed at
this session, its final success was certain. At the ses-
i sion of 1844 it became a law of the Discipline, and has
ever since been steadily maintained.
At former sessions we have seen him procuring an ac-
commodation of the disciplinary rule, which requires an-
nual or biennial changes of the ministerial appointments
in favor of the permanent appointment of chaplains and
professors in the colleges and teachers in the seminaries
of the denomination. He now united with Dr. Martin
Ruter in a successful effort to obtain a similar accommo-
dation for preachers who might be elected professors in
colleges not belonging to the Church. In other import-
ant proceedings of the session did he also take an active
part. He was especially gratified with the evidence pre-
sented at this Conference of the success of the educa-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 279
tional measures which he had the honor of first introduc-
ing in the General Conference, after the failure of the
early efforts of Coke and Asbury at Abingdon and Balti-
more. The bishops, in their address, pronounced the
result tk a noble work," and could now say that " most
of the Annual Conferences have established literary in-
stitutions. In some cases this has been done by single
Conferences, in others by two or more Conferences united.
Most of these institutions, though in an infant state, are
flourishing and prosperous, and promise great usefulness
to the community in general, and to the Methodist
Church in particular. We cannot but regard tj^is as a
subject of vital interest to the connection at large."
Besides its numerous academies, (all of them boarding-
schools,) the Church had now no less than five collegiate
institutions : Augusta College, Ky., with Ruter for its
president, and Durbin, Tomlinson, and Bascom among
its professors ; the Wesleyan University at Middletown,
Conn., under the presidency of Fisk ; Madison College,
replaced by Alleghany College, Pa., under the presidency
of Fielding ; that of Lagrange, Ala., with Robert Paine
for president ; and that of Randolph Macon, Va., under
Olin. He witnessed also now the almost universal ex-
tension, through the states and territories of the nation,
of his other favorite cause, the Missionary Society.
Hitherto it had been prosecuted as a domestic scheme,
comprehending the frontier circuits, the slaves, the free
colored people, and the Indian tribes ; it had achieved
great in this wide field, and was now strong
enough to reach abroad to other lands. It proposed,
with the sanction of this Conference, to plant it< standard
on th> rica, and send agents to Mexico and
South America to ascertain tin- possibility of missions in
s. Thus were begun I eign opera-
iety which have Bince become its most in-
teresting labors.
280 LIFE AND TIMES OF
DECLINES THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE.
He was urged by many of his brethren to consent to
be a candidate for the episcopal office at this session.
" I have no reason," he writes, " to doubt that I might
have been elected by a large majority had I consented ;
but this I could not do consistently with my views of
propriety." He believed that his domestic circumstances
did not justify the long absence from home which the
office required ; lie also believed that the position he oc-
cupied, in connection with the great enterprises of the
Church — its missions, Sunday-schools, literature, and
publislnng house — an equally honorable, and a much
more useful sphere of labor. Besides these considera-
tions, there was throughout his noble nature — a nature
robust for all useful labors, and courageous for all neces-
sary contests — a vein of diffident modesty, which made
him shrink from any promotion which, with whatever
advantages of power and usefulness, imposed the con-
ventional restraints of official dignity. Few men have
ever been at once more constitutionally brave and diffident
than Nathan Bangs. Official duties sat well upon him,
but never official honors. His shield was bright and
impenetrable, but could bear no heraldic symbols ; the
hilt of his sword was simply its handle, not its decora-
tion. He venerated the episcopal office of his Church,
and estimated highly the capability and utility of its
functions in the Methodistic government ; but he believed
there were much more useful positions in the denomina-
tion, and he instinctively shrunk from the reverential at-
tentions with which the people so justly treated the
office. His associate in the Book Concern, John Emory,
and James O. Andrew, were elected bishops, and he him-
self was appointed to a new editorial post at New York.
FIRST EDITOR OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW".
The book agents had found it desirable, in 1830, to
change the Magazine from a monthly miscellany to the
XATIIAX BANGS, D.D. 281
more important character of a Quarterly Review. Be-
g the weekly ocate," they now issued the
"Child's Magazine" and the "Youth's Instructor."
*■ For the ordinary put they remarked, " of intel-
ligence, and for general miscellaneous articles, which for
such mediums of communication must necessarily be
short, these periodicals seem to be sufficient. It may be
remarked, also, that many of the topics which formerly
e value to the monthly numbers of our Magazine —
the religious narratives and lighter miscellanies — now
find, since the introduction of a weekly religious news-
paper, their appropriate place in that vehicle. Indeed,
it has often happened, since the commencement of our
weekly paper, that after having much of the matter for
the Magazine actually in type, or even on the press, be-
fore we could get it into circulation, it has been antici-
pated and spread abroad through the speedier medium
of the Christian Advocate and Journal." These were
for the transformation of the Magazine; but
the clear discernment of Emory (who doubtless wrote
the prospectus) saw other and higher reasons. He could
appreciate the moral and intellectual progress of tin-
nomination and its pi ies and capacities.
The Quarterly Review, as a commanding organ of
opinion, he perceived to be its next intellectual want.
r this class of periodicals," he says, "there is cer-
tainly a greater vacancy in the department of theological
journals at the present day than in any other, and par-
ticularly in our own denomination. There is dang
y ourselves on one hand with light and
transient reading, and on the other with light and tran-
sient writing. We yet need a journal which shall draw
forth the most matured efforts of our best writers, wheth-
er in the ministry or among other intelligent and liter-
ary contributors; wh< they may have room for
ampler and more i in a record which
shall endure for the : are
282 LIFE AND TIMES OF
very many, also, in the wide circle of our friends who
have both taste and adequate means for patronizing such
a work; and one such is highly desirable, as well for
their satisfaction, as to lead others to the cultivation of a
similar taste."
Dr. Bangs had the honor to be appointed the first
editor of this highest periodical of the Church — another
of the many primary distinctions which seemed so spon-
taneously to devolve upon him in the rapid progress of
American Methodism. He was to live to see it com-
mand a more extensive circulation than any other similar
periodical of the New World, and to take literary rank
among the first of religious quarterlies.
Dr. J. P. Durbin was elected his successor in the
editorship of the "Advocate," but in about a year and
a half resigned that office. At the request of the Book
Committee, its laborious duties were again undertaken
by Dr. Bangs, in addition to those of the Quarterly Re-
view. Dr. John M'Clintock, who was himself con-
nected with the Book Concern about this time, remarks
that " in estimating the value and extent of his labors, as
editor of the Quarterly, we must remember that he was
not allowed to pay for contributions ; the pages of the
Review had to be filled by his own pen, by voluntary
writers, or by selections from other journals. Looking
in this light at the contents of the volumes from 1832 to
1836, we are not surprised to find them deficient in the
breadth of scholarship, variety of range, and elegance of
style which have characterized the later years of the
Review. It is hard work to make bricks without straw.
But it would be a great mistake to conclude hastily that
because the Review, now in the strength of its man-
hood— with a large body of paid contributors, and hav-
ing a body of readers of far higher education than our
Church could furnish a quarter of a century ago — is so far
in advance of the earlier volumes that these last are of
no worth. Many of the editor's contributions, especially,
NATHAN HANGS, D.D. 283
are of permanent literary and historical value, especially
those on 'Scholastic Divinity,' 'Robert Hall's Works,'
'Richard Baxter,1 'Stuart on Romans,' 'The Origin
of Langu lagee on Atonement,' 'xYbraham's
ad the 'Life of Adam Clarke.' During these
four y< . Dr. Bangs edited a number of books for
the General Catalogue." It is a proof of the laborious
energy of his mind that, while thus burdened with duties,
as editor of the Quarterly, of the xVdvocate, and also of
the General Book Catalogue, he produced, in 1834, a
volume of "Letters to a Young Preacher." It was a
rity of the times, meeting with admirable appropri-
38 the wants of the growing ministry of Methodism.
Having an extensive circulation, and discussing a great
variety of topics in relation to books and study, as well
as ministerial labors and decorum, it made a wide and
deep impression on the younger portion of the itinerant
ministry, who composed more than half its numerical
strength.
CONTROVERSY WITH BISHOP EMORY.
A characteristic controversy took place between him
and Bishop Emory in the Christian Advocate, in 1834 —
characteristic as illustrating Dr. Bangs's regard for the
law of the Church and the rights of its ministry. The
debate ended in a cordial reconciliation of the two dis-
putants ; and it might, therefore, well enough be ignored
here had not Dr. Bangs deemed it misrepresented in the
and Time- of Bishop Hedding," and left express
directions that if any record of his own life should be
published, the alleged mi>representation should be cor-
ral Conference had provided,
have seen, for a course of study to be prepared by the
jatory on candidates for member-
ship in the Annual Conferences. Bishop Emory, with
the advice of the Mississippi Conference, had divided this
''coin- through tour years, thus
284 LIFE AND TIMES OF
imposing it, in part, upon candidates for elder's orders,
men who were already members of the Conference. The
claim of these men for ordination, as elders, was made
dependent upon their satisfactory examination in the pre-
scribed studies. Dr. Bangs opposed this requisition as
"above or without law." Not being nominally the
editor of the Advocate, (though he had charge of it, Dr.
Durbin having now resigned that office,) he addressed
Dr. Emory in an anonymous communication. He
esteemed this more respectful to the episcopate than
would be a formal or official opposition of the organ of
the Church against the bishop. He subsequently, how-
ever, communicated his name to the latter as the author
of the unfavorable article, and soon after announced that
fact in the paper.
Summarily the facts involved in this case are as
follows :
1. Dr. Bangs's opposition to the course of the bishop
was not opposition to ministerial improvement, but to
what he deemed an episcopal and unjustifiable deviation
from the law of the Church. In fact he was himself the
father of the law for a course of study, as has been
shown ; he originated the first enactment of the kind in
1816, and with his friend, B. M. Drake, had actually in-
troduced in the last General Conference the motion for
the course which the bishop was now misapplying, as he
believed. He wTill need not a word of defense, in this
respect, with any reader of the preceding pages. He
expressly declares, in his remonstrance against the
bishop's measure, his wish to see the course extended
through four years, if the law-making power of the
Church, the General Conference, should authorize it.
2. But (what ought to have been conclusive of the
controversy) the last General Conference had refused to
extend the course to four years, thereby directly declin-
ing to subject deacons, already members of the Annual
Conferences, to any such condition of ordination to the
P.i). 285
higher office of elders. The motion of Dr. Bangs and
Ids fellow-delegate had proposed a four years' course;
but it was laid on the table. The attempt of Bishop
Emory to do, with the sanction of an Annual Conference,
what the preceding General Conference had expressly
declined to allow, seemed, indeed, to Dr. Bangs an ex-
traordinary and inadmissible stretch of episcopal power.
3. There was precedent, and even episcopal precedent,
against the course of the bishop. A committee of the
New York Conference had, years before, prepared and
published a four years' course of study for its own preach-
ers; but when it " was presented to the bishops for their
sanction they refused to sanction the third and fourth
years, for want of authority, and in this decision the
committee fully concurred, and accordingly this part of
the course" was never used.
4. The question of Conference authority, or " Confer-
ence rights," became complicated with the dispute. "As
the whole broad power of judgment, as to fitness or
qualification for the elder's office, and also of election to
it, had been vested in the Annual Conferences," the biog-
rapher of Bedding supposes " the prescribing of such a
course of study to be clearly within the legitimate func-
tions of an Annual Conference." The " whole broad
er of judgment" is here a very broad phrase. The
ual Conferences have, indeed, the power of judging
of the qualifications of their candidates, but only of
judging according to a prescribed standard, and have no
pow< btract from or add to that standard. The
Annual Conferences are executive and judicial bodies;
wer of the Church i> exclusively in the
■ice, and the General Conference had
prescribed the qualifications of candidates for eldership,
and had declined to include the one in question between
i. Emory and B An Annual Conference has no
more author' ew term of ordination than
rihe a new term of Church membership. The
286 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church is a unit,
though for territorial convenience distributed into several
Conferences. But if an Annual Conference can enact a
term of ordination or of Conference membership, a term
which has not been enacted by the General Conference,
what becomes of our ministerial unity or identity?
What of the episcopal right of transferring men from
one Conference to another, especially in the case of can-
didates ? A candidate who might be proscribed in one
Conference might be admissible in another; and, what
would be still more preposterous, might, immediately
after his admission, be transferred back from the latter
to the former in full rights as an elder. One Conference
might make abstinence from tobacco or from long
beards a condition of elder's ordination, or of Conference
membership, while an adjacent Conference might refuse
to do so. Were the above "broad" principle admitted,
hypothetically every Conference might adopt some pe-
culiar term, and thus every Conference be isolated from
all the others. In fine, Annual Conferences have no legis-
lative authority ; they have power to do only what the
General Conference prescribes for them to do, except as
a matter of mutual concession or courtesy between their
members and the presiding officer, the representative of
the General Conference.*
* These views are sanctioned by the highest authority of the Church.
The bishops, in their message to the General Conference of 1840, ex-
plicitly avow them. " Have the Annual Conferences a constitutional
right to do any other business than what is specifically prescribed, or,
by fair construction, provided for in the form of Discipline ? Has the
president of an Annual Conference, by virtue of his office, a right to
decline putting a motion or resolution to vote, on business other than
that thus prescribed or provided for ? These questions are proposed
with exclusive reference to the principle of constitutional right. The
principles of courtesy and expediency are very different things. The
General Conference is the only legislative body recognized in our
ecclesiastical system, and from it originates the authority of the entire
executive administration. The exclusive power to create Annual Con-
ferences, and to increase or diminish their number, rests with this
body. No Annual Conference has authority or right to make any rule
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 287
MINISTERIAL EDUCATION.
The General Conference of 1844 ordained a four
years' course of study, and thus gave it unquestion-
able authority, completing what Dr. Bangs had, twelve
years before, proposed, and conferring inestimable ad-
vantage on the Church. Dr. Bangs was the first
man to admit into the official, that is to say, the
General Conference periodicals of the Church, the prop-
osition for institutions of ministerial education, and
resolutely endured a storm of editorial and other hostility
for this bold measure. In reply to the attacks upon him
he said : " What is the question so gravely put forth for
the consideration of the Church ? We answer, so far as
we understand it, it is this : ' May not a voluntary
of discipline for the Church either within its own bounds or elsewhere.
No one has the power to elect its own president, except in a special
. pointed out and provided for by the General Conference. What-
ever may be the number of the Annual Conferences, they are all organ-
ized on the same plan, are all governed by the same laws, and all have
identically the same rights, powers, and privileges. These powers, and
rights, and privileges are not derived from themselves, but from the
body which originated them. And the book of Discipline, containing
the Rules of the General Conference, i3 the only charter of their rights,
and directory of their duties, as official bodies. The general superin-
tendents are elected by the General Conference, and responsible to it
for the discharge of the duties of their office. The primary objects of
their official department in the Church were, as we believe, to preserve,
in the most effectual manner, an itinerant ministry ; to maintain a uni-
formity in the administration of the government and discipline in every
department, and that the unity of the whole body might be preserved.
But how, we would ask, can these important ends be accomplished if
each Annual Conference possesses the rights and powers set forth in
the foregoing summary ? [Claims of legislative authority made by cer-
tain Conferences.] Is it not greatly to be feared that, with such a syB-
tem of ecclesiastical jurisprudence, what might be law in Georgia might
be no law i gland? that what might be orthodoxy in one Con-
ference might be heresy in another i Where, then, would be the iden-
•:' the law, the uniformity of its administration, or the unity and
pea- I '' The General I tided that
the]- Lrterly Meel . • bad a right
to decline putting a motion or resolution to vote, it' he oonsidei
foreign to the proper business of a Conference, or inconsistent with
constitutional provisions.
288 LIFE AND TIMES OF
sociation be formed of men friendly to the object which
may provide means for the education of such young men
as give evidence of a call from God to preach the Gos-
pel, and who have been approved, according to our
usages, as local preachers, who choose and desire to ob-
tain a more thorough education before they enter upon
the enlarged field of itinerancy V This is the question.
And shall we be afraid to meet it fairly and fully ? Let
it be remembered that it is not to be met by sarcasm,
put to silence by ridicule, nor its meaning perverted by
misrepresentation. Some seem to look at this question
as though our Church had just now for the first time
awaked up to this subject, as though we had all our days
been averse to an educated ministry. But is this so?
We think not. The history of Methodism will show
that, although a classical education or a systematical
theological training has not been considered essential to
a Gospel minister, yet that sound knowledge, various
reading, and particularly a thorough acquaintance with
biblical truth, were always considered essential pre-
requisites to usefulness and continuance in the ministry.
We consider it, therefore, a settled point, an established
policy in Methodism, that its ministers should be well
educated, that they should thoroughly understand the
science which they profess to teach, and the language in
which they communicate their thoughts to others. The
only question then is, What is the best method to obtain
this knowledge ? And we think it will be admitted on
all hands that the method which will lead to the attain-
ment of the object with the greatest facility, with the
least expense of time and labor, should be adopted. On
this we may offer some thoughts hereafter. We con-
clude what we have to say at present by remarking that
if the Methodist Episcopal Church has suffered ministers
to graduate to office without acquiring knowledge, and
without contracting a taste for it, she has so far departed
from primitive Methodism. Mr. Wesley not only en-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 289
couraged learning among his sons in the Gospel, but in-
Bisted, as an indispensable condition of their continuance
in the ministry, that they should oontract such a taste for
it as io love it, to spend at least five hours of the twenty-
four not in mere desultory reading, but in close applica-
tion to study. And hence arose from his 'school of the
prophets,' from his severe literary discipline, some of the
brightest ornaments of literature, and some of the sound-
est divines, the ablest linguists and biblical critics. As
a confirmation of the truth of this remark we might
name Walsh, Morgan, Oliver, Benson, Clarke, Watson,
and others both among the dead and living, 'whose
praise is in all the Churches.' Had Wesley thrown cold
water upon the early sparks of their literary ardor, or
suffered their brethren to throw discouragements in their
way by sarcasm and contemptuous ridicule, is it to be
supposed that they would have ever risen to that literary
eminence by which they became so justly distinguished?
Well, we have seen that the Methodist Episcopal Church
has held the same language to all her ministers. If,
therefore, any of them have passed along in inglorious
ignorance, it has not been because the Church has not
ciated the value and importance of sound theological
knowledge, but because she has neglected to enforce her
own rules, either from the force of circumstances she
could not control, or from inattention to her own most
solemn engagements. Perhaps an apology may be of-
for the little progress we have hitherto made in
genera] Literature, from the extensiveness of our itinerant
hntry comparatively new, and the general
four people; but as these impediments are re-
moved and removing out of the way, we hope that
means will be applied to surmount the difficulties which
lain in the way of our improvement, and that the
list Episcopal Church shall 'not boa whit behind
dom in the
literary and I il eminence of her ministers."
19
290 LIFE ANP TIMES OF
CHAPTER XX.
PROSPERITY OF NEW YORK CONFERENCE.
Such had been the prosperity of the Church that,
though his own Conference had been territorially reduced
by successive offsets — the Canadas on the north, and the
great Genesee Conference on the west — it was again
necessary to divide it at its session following the General
Conference of 1832.* It now reported more than forty-
seven thousand members ; their increase in the last year
had been nearly one sixth of the whole number. It was
the largest Conference in the Church, except that of
Philadelphia. When Dr. Bangs was admitted as one of its
candidates, in 1802, the membership of the denomination
throughout the United States and the Canadas did not
amount to twice the present membership of this single
Conference. On his first attendance at its session, in
1804, its communicants numbered not a fourth of their
present force, though the Canadas and Genesee were not
set off till years later. The number of Methodists in
what was the territory of the Conference at the date of
his ordination had increased from 11,700 to more than
110,000 ; its ministry from 59 to nearly 500 ; and yet he
was in the vigor of his life, not fifty-five years old, ap-
parently not forty-five. Identified with all the great af-
fairs of Methodism, he felt, perhaps more than any
other man, the inspiration and invigoration of its unparal-
leled success. He had seen its numerical force increase
from 72,874 members and 307 preachers (including the
Canadas) in 1801, to 548,593 members and 2,200 preach-
ers (exclusive of the Canadas) in 1832. It had gained
375,719 communicants and 1,893 itinerant preachers
* The Genesee Conference had itself already been divided, otherwise
it would have been at this time the largest Conference in the nation.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 291
since 'he joined its humble but victorious ranks in the
wilds of Canada. Its membership was more than quin-
tupled, and its ministry more than sextupled in this
period. He had seen its revivals .extend over all the
states and settled territories of the republic like fire on
the western prairies. It possessed now not only the
principal publishing house of the religious world, and
numerous literary periodicals, colleges, and seminaries,
but its original chapels were almost universally renewed.
It had dotted the country with its new churches and
parsonages, and was at this moment projecting those
ernes of foreign evangelization which wTere to ex-
tend its salutary power before his death to the remotest
parts of the earth. Had he died now, it would have
been amid the general triumph of his cause ; and well
might he have expired with the grateful exclamation of
the Hebrew saint : " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation !"
But he was to witness its struggles and triumphs through
thirty years more, a generation, and to be recognized as
one of its chief standard-bearers through the contests
and victories of nearly all this remaining period.
GEEAT SUCCESS.
Strong in body, in intellect, and in faith, and stimu-
lated by the sense of this general success, he not only
pursued with unabated vigor his onerous official duties,
but continually appeared in the pulpit a powerful
preacher. Remarkable religious interest prevailed about
tliis time in many parts of the Church ; it pervaded
the in New York city, and he shared effect-
ively in it- promotion. He says: "The work in gen-
eral throughout the bounds of the several Annual Con-
-. both on the older circuits and stations and on
the : . was in a prosperous Btate, and tie' spirit of
revival, and of liberality in support of our various insti-
tutions, Was evidently rising and prevailing more and
292 LIFE AND TIMES OF
more. For the last two years, through the instrument-
ality of protracted meetings, there had been a powerful
revival in the <city of New York. This work commenced
in the Allen-street Church, and spread more or less in the
different congregations in the city ; but its most power-
ful effects were felt and seen in the church in Allen-
street, where the meetings were continued for upward of
forty days, and in the evenings for nearly three months ;
so that the ' revival in Allen-street ' became notorious
all over the country, and the increase during the two
past years was not less than one thousand four hundred.
This extension of the work created the necessity of hav-
ing an additional number of churches, which eventuated,
in the course of a few years, in the erection of seven,
making in the whole twelve, (in two of which the slips
were rented,) and three of the old ones were rebuilt.
Oar preachers and people more generally began to feel
the necessity of building larger and more commodious
houses of worship, and of providing parsonages for the
married preachers, as well as of contributing more liber-
ally for the support of our infant colleges, missions, and
Sunday-schools. Indeed, such had been the hallowed
and happy influence of these institutions thus far, that
opposition to them was mainly disarmed of its power,
and success spoke loudly in their behalf." In 1833, also,
" the work of God was generally very prosperous. The
agitations which resulted from the radical controversy
had generally ceased, our institutions had been success-
fully defended against their rude assailants, and hence all
went forward with alacrity and delight in the discharge
of their respective duties. In addition to the ordinary
means used for the promotion of the cause of Christ, the
'protracted meetings' contributed much, for they were
now very generally adopted throughout our bounds ;
and the circuits and stations, particularly in the older
parts of our work, were brought into more eonrpact
order, so that pastoral duties could be more conveniently
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 293
performed. But that which contributed still more to
enlarge our borders, more especially in places before un-
occupied by our ministry, and in the frontier settlements,
was the energetic action of the Missionary Society." In
1834, he writes, "the enlargement of our borders on
every hand, and the increase of membership in the older
circuits and stations, generally created an ability in our
brethren and friends to supply the means to furnish ac-
commodations for the people and their preachers; and
the necessity for these things, together with the urgent
calls from the pulpit and the press, particularly in the
columns of the Christian Advocate and Journal, excited
them to activity in the discharge of these duties. Hence,
churches more commodious and central than heretofore
were erected and erecting, parsonage houses built or re-
built, and partially furnished, by which means the diffi-
culties and expenses of removing were very much less-
ened, and the congregations became more numerous and
permanent. It will be seen, therefore, that our increase
this year and last was unusually large, and the mission-
ary work went on most delightfully and prosperously,
the whole being aided by protracted meetings, mission-
ary anniversaries, and prayer-meetings. These things,
also, by diminishing the inducement to desist from
traveling, lessened the number of locations." " It was
evident, also," he adds, "that our ministry was improv-
ing ia learning and general knowledge, and consequent ly
in usefulness and respectability; while the continuance of
revival^ wa> a sure indication that they were not retro-
grading in piety and zeal."
FOR] i v.
Practically, if not officially, the principal agent of the
nonary cause of the Church, he was especially zeal-
in it- incipient foreign plans. At the Last General
( lonference, as v. • , extend
the operatioi to other lands — to scud
294 LIFE AND TIMES OF
preachers to Africa, and a commission of inquiry to South
America. Hitherto it had no foreign missions proper,
though its stations among the American aborigines were
classed as such. These Indian Missions had now become
numerous, and some of them were remarkably prosper-
ous ; " attended," he says, " with unparalleled success."
In Upper Canada they numbered in 1831- no less than
ten stations and nearly two thousand Indians " under
religious instruction, most of whom were members of
the Church. Among the Cherokees, in Georgia, we had
at the same date no less than seventeen missionary
laborers, and nearly a thousand Church-members. Among
the Choctaws we had about four thousand communicants,
embracing all the principal men of the nation, their
chiefs and captains." And more or less, along the whole
frontier, Indian Missions were established. Meanwhile
the destitute fields of the domestic work proper were
dotted with humble but effective mission stations, from
the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and these sta-
tions were rapidly passing from the missionary list to
the Conference catalogue of Appointments as self-sup-
' porting Churches.
In 1832 Melville B. Cox sailed for Africa, the first
foreign missionary of American Methodism. He organ-
ized the Liberia Mission. He fell a martyr to the cli-
mate, but laid on that benighted continent the founda-
tions of the Church, never, it may be hoped, to be
shaken. The next year a delegation from the distant
Flathead Indians of Oregon arrived in the states solicit-
ing missionaries. Their appeal was zealously urged,
through the Christian Advocate, and received an enthu-
siastic response from the Church. Dr. Bangs, who had
been a leading promoter of the African Mission, now, in
co-operation with Dr. Wilbur Fisk, advocated this new
claim with his utmost ability. Jason and Daniel Lee
and Cyrus Shepard were dispatched as missionaries in
the spring of 1834. An extraordinary scheme of labors
NATHAN "BANGS, D.D. 295
was adopted, involving great expense ; but, writes Dr.
Bang*, u the projection of this important mission had a
most happy effect upon the missionary cause generally.
As the entire funds of the Society up to this time had
not exceeded eighteen thousand dollars a year, and as
this mission must necessarily cost considerable,, with a
view to augment the pecuniary resources of the Society,
a loud and urgent call was made, through the columns
of the Christian Advocate and Journal, on the friends
of missions to ' come up to the help of the Lord ' in
this emergency ; and to assist in this benevolent work,
the Messrs. Lee were instructed, while remaining in the
civilized world, to travel as extensively as possible, hold
missionary meetings, and take up collections. The 'Flat-
head' Mission, as it was then called, seemed to possess
a charm, around which clustered the warm affections of
all the friends of the missionary enterprise, and special
donations for the 'Flatheads' were sent to the treas-
ury with cheering liberality and avidity. As an evidence
of the beneficial result of these movements, the amount
of available funds had risen, in 1834, from 817,097 05,
the sum raised in 1833, to $35,700 15. So true is it that
those who aim at great things, if they do not fully real-
ize their hopes, will yet accomplish much."
The surges of emigration have overwhelmed nearly all
that grand transmontane region ; the aborigines are sink-
ing out of sight beneath them ; but the Oregon Mission,
after some useful labors among the Indians, became the
nucleus of the Christianity and civilization of the new
and mighty state which has since arisen on the Xorth
Pacitic coast.
awhile Fountain C. Pitts was sent on the mission
of inquiry to South America. In the autumn of 1835
he \rw\ Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, Monte Vide
other places, and the Methodist South American Mission
founded the next year by Justin Spaulding. Thus
had the Church borne at last its victorious banner into
296 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the field of foreign missions. It was to be tried severely
in these new contests, but to march on through triumphs
and defeats till it should take foremost rank among de-
nominations devoted to foreign evangelization.
INVIGOEATION OF THE CHURCH.
No man felt, no man had a right to feel greater gratifica-
tion in these important advancements than Dr. Bangs.
He had been identified not only with the Missionary So-
ciety from its beginning, but particularly with these new
measures ; they kindled higher than ever the ardor of his
earlier manhood. He had seen the Church, in whose his-
tory for nearly half a century his own personal history had
been so entirely merged, extend from Canada to Mexico,
from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; he now saw it, as he be-
lieved, begin its march around the world. In 1 835 he wrote :
" The usual peace and harmony prevailing in our ranks
for the five years past, and the zeal exemplified by minis-
ters and people for the promotion of the cause of God
by the ordinary means of the Gospel, as well as by insti-
tutions of learning, Sabbath-schools, and the distribution
of Bibles and tracts, the building of churches and par-
sonages, seemed to awaken new energies, and to call
forth the resources of the Church in a much more liberal
manner than heretofore for the extension of the work on
every hand, but more particularly by means of mission-
ary labors. We did not know, indeed, how much could
be done until the trial was made. And the several insti-
tutions alluded to, instead of weakening one another,
acted reciprocally upon each other ; the one tending to
excite the other to more vigorous action, and all
uniting to produce the most salutary and happy results.
This was seen in every department of our extended work,
and the truth of the inspired declaration was exemplified
by every day's experience : ' He that deviseth liberal
things, by liberal things shall he stand;' and 'he that
watereth shall be watered again.' In the same propor-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 297
tion that we enlarged the sphere of our operations for
the conversion of the world did the means accumulate
for carrying on our work ; and by inducing all to con-
tribute Bomething, none were oppressed, while each one
felt that he had an interest in the general cause he was
aiding to support. By means of these appliances the
ary labor especially, both in new countries
and hitherto unoccupied places in the older settlements,
were constantly supplied with Gospel ordinances, the
vigorous action of the heart of the Church sending out
through these main arteries the life-blood to every limb
and member of the spiritual body, and they in return,
by a lively exercise of their functions, sending it back
to the center, thus keeping up that constant circulation
which is essential to the health and growth of the entire
system."
DEATHS OF M'KENDREE AND EMORY.
A- the close of his present quadrennial term of office
drew near he shared deeply with the whole Church in
the mournful loss of two of its ablest bishops, M'Ken-
and Emory, who both died in 1835. He has left
us reminiscences of these great and good men, as of so
m^ny others — utterances from his warm heart. Of M'Ken-
dree lit- Bays : u From the time of his entrance upon the
arduous duties of his office until his death he labored
most assiduously to fulfill his high trust in such a manner
as to preserve the unity, the purity, and integrity of the
Church, and thereby to promote the cause of < rod among
his fellow-men. In some of the first years of his labors
as an itinerating superintendent of the Methodisl Epis-
copal Church he was in the habit of traveling from one
end of the continent to the other on horseback, fre-
quently exp08ed to the hardships and privfctiona incident
to the new countries, and to the fatigues <>i' preaching
tention t<> the oumeroi
his official relation to the Church. To
298 LIFE AND TIMES OF
those unacquainted with the peculiar work of an itinerat-
ing superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
it might seem strange that a -man enfeebled by disease,
oppressed by an accumulation of cares and labors, should
nevertheless constantly move about from one part of the
continent to another, cross and recross the Alleghany
Mountains, descend the valleys of the western rivers,
preach to a few hearers in log-cabins, to thousands under
the foliage of the trees at camp-meetings, and then visit
the populous cities and villages, and make the pulpits
sound with the voice of mercy and glad tidings ! Yet
such was the mode of life of Bishop M'Kendree. Habit
had, indeed, rendered it necessary to his life and comfort,
so much so that the very thought of being confined to
one place was painful; and whenever such an event
seemed inevitable, you might see the stragglings of a
soul anxious to avert what he considered a calamity.
Down to the General Conference of 1832 he continued
his itinerant tours, often in the midst of such debility
that he had to be assisted in and out of his carriage by
his faithful traveling companion, through various parts
of the continent, mostly in the South and West, enlivening
the hearts of his friends by his cheerful submission to
the Divine will amid the pains and afflictions of fife,
and receiving every favor shown him with the smile of
gratitude and the embrace of paternal affection. At
this Conference he seemed to be tottering under the in-
firmities of age, and withering under the corroding
influence of protracted disease ; while his soul exerted its
wonted energies in devising or approving of plans for
the prosperity of the Church. Like a patriarch in the
midst of his family, with his head silvered over by the
frosts of seventy-five winters, and a countenance beam-
ing with intelligence and good-will, he delivered his val-
edictory remarks, which are remembered with lively
emotions. Rising from his seat to take his departure
from the Conference the day before it adjourned, he
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 299
halted for a moment, leaning upon hie staff; with fal-
tering lips, and eyes Bwimming in tears, he said, 'My
brethren and children, love one another. Let all things
be done without strife or vainglory, and strive to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.' He then
id forth his trembling hands, and lifting his eyes to-
ward heaven, pronounced, with faltering and affectionate
its, the apostolic benediction.
" He had an understanding sufficiently strong and
acute to enable him to grapple with any subject within
the range of the human intellect, and equal to the ac-
quirement of any branch of human knowledge. This
was evident to all who were intimate with him and
could duly appreciate his worth. His mind, indeed, was
capable of the nicest distinctions, of the most critical
. and of the widest expansion. How often
did he, by a well-timed and pointed remark, unravel the
istry of the sciolist, and confound the pedantic pre-
tender to wisdom and science! As if by a sudden in-
spiration of thought, he would make a ray of light flash
upon a subject, and thereby render that clear and intelli-
gible which before was obscure and perplexed. There
was great variety in the character of his sermons.
Though he seldom failed to ' make out what he took in
hand,' yet he sometimes sunk rather below mediocrity;
while at other times he soared and expanded, and aston-
l yon with irradiations of light, and with the power
eloquence with which he delivered the tremendous
truths of God."
With Emory Dr. Bangs had maintained intimate rela-
tions in the Book Concern daring eight years. "Early,"
he writes, uon the morning of Wednesday, December
16, 1S35, he left home in a one-horse' carriage, for the
purpose of visiting Baltimore on business conne
with hi- J office. His horse ran away with him
and he was violently thrown from the I re-
ceived such a rid in the head that he expired
300 LIFE AND TIMES OF
about seven o'clock of the same day. His death was
the more melancholy to his friends because his fall and
the wound he received deprived him of his senses, so
that he was unable to converse with those who stood
around his dying bed, though he was heard to respond
an amen to one of the many prayers which were offered
up iu his behalf in this hour of trial and affliction. No
one doubted, however, of "is preparedness to meet his
fate and to enter into the joy of his Lord. He died in
the forty-eighth year of his age. He possessed an acute
and discriminating mind, a sound and comprehensive
judgment. Having received a thorough education in
his youth, and devoting some time of his more mature
and vigorous days to the study of the law, his under-
standing had become accustomed to close thought, and
accurate research, and he could, therefore, quickly and
easily distinguish between truth and error, between
right and wrong, while his heart forsook the one and
cleaved to the other. He always evinced a mind thor-
oughly imbued with his subject, familiar with the truth,
and well trained to the exercise of its powers in weigh-
ing evidence and balancing the claims of the various sub-
jects which might be presented for consideration. And
the acuteness of his intellectual powers was in no in-
stances more strikingly illustrated than in his capacity to
distinguish the nicest shades of truth, to detect tb^
smallest intrusions of error, and so to analyze a subject
as to view it in all its parts, and then so to combine it as
to grasp it in his mind as one undivided whole. He
could with all the ease imaginable fix upon an antagonist
the very point in which he erred, trace it in all its wind
ings and shiftings, and then bring the whole weight ol
his powerful intellect to bear upon him, with a force,
collected by a regular course of argument, which he
could not well resist. Though he was extremely sensi-
tive, and could quickly perceive the slightest aberrations
from the rules of strict propriety, he knew equally well
.NAlllAN BANGS, D.D. 301
how to make due allowance for human frailties, and to
apologize for those faults in others which seemed the un-
avoidable result of either ignorance or inattention. Nor
could he retain a spirit of resentment toward any man
after discovering the slightest emotion of repentance ;
and he was as ready to make atonement for an offense as
he was to accept it."
BURNING OF THE BOOK CONCEEN.
About three months before the end of his present
term of service in the Book Concern — a period with
which his long official connection with that institution
finally to close — a great calamity fell upon it, and
in a few hours laid it in ashes. " It was," he says, " on
a very cold night in the month of February, 1836, but a
short time after the great fire in the city of New York,
which destroyed about twenty million dollars' worth of
property. I was awakened about four o'clock A. M.
by a ringing at my door, and a voice which apprised me
that the Book Room was on fire! I sprung from my
bed, dressed, called my two sons, and repaired with all
possible speed to the scene of conflagration. I hoped,
at least, to save the library. But the smoke was already
issuing from the windows of my office, and the flames
from other parts of the house ! Here I found the agents,
who were on the spot before me. The hydrants were
frozen, and the waters were thrown but feebly, though
terted themselves to their utmost. We saw that
all was gone. Suddenly, and with a tremendous crash,
of fell in ! The flames seemed to ascend in curling
eddies t<> the heavens, carrying with them fragments of
and papers, which the winds Bwepl over the city
t" the eastward, as if to carry the news of the sad dis-
to our distant friend-. Indeed. :i leaf of a Bible
mi three miles from the place, od which
the following \ but just legible: lOur holy and
our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is
302 LIFE AND TIMES OF
burned up with fire ; and all our pleasant things are laid
waste,' Isa. lxiv, 11. Our 'beautiful house,' and all our
4 pleasant things,' our books, and printing, and binding
apparatus, were, indeed, 4 burned up with fire !' But the
fire-proof vault had, by the skillful management of the
firemen, preserved the account books, and most of the
registry books for subscribers were saved by the timely
exertions of the clerk of that department. The rest
was gone, except about three hundred dollars' worth of
books, and some of the iron work, stone, and brick about
the building. ' How did this fire originate ?' This
question has been asked a thousand times, but never sat-
isfactorily answered, although an inquiry was imme-
diately instituted, and diligent search made, with a view
to ascertain the fact. It still lies buried in obscurity;
but my own opinion is, that it took fire by accident in
the interior of the building, in the second story, where
the fire was first discovered by the man who came to
open the office and make the fires for the day. The rea-
sons for this opinion, though satisfactory to myself, I
cannot here detail ; and as they do not involve any one
connected with the establishment in blame, while it re-
lieves us from entertaining the cruel suspicion that any
one was wicked enough to set fire to the premises, it
may pass for what it is worth, without injury to any
individual concerned. In the deep affliction felt by the
agents, arid indeed all in any way connected with the
establishment, it was no small consolation to be assured
of the sincere and wide-spread sympathy which was
both felt and expressed by our brethren and friends for
us on account of this heavy loss. At a public meeting
held a few days after in the city of New York, about
twenty-five thousand dollars were subscribed toward
relieving us in this distress ; and as the news spread, sim-
ilar meetings were held all over the country, and liberal
donations and subscriptions were made, which mightily
cheered the hearts of those more immediately interested
NAT 11 AX BANGS, D.D. 303
in the Concern. The entire amount received toward
making up this heavy loss was $88,346 09. This, as it
came in, enabled the agents to continue their business,
and they recommenced building, even while the smoke
gave signs thai the fire was not entirely extinguished.
u What made this lire the more disastrous was, that the
much more destructive one which had preceded it only
about two months in the city of New York had pros-
trated most of the insurance offices, and rendered them
unable to pay the demands against them, and made it
impossible to get insured in New York with any safety
for some time. Most of the policies held by the Concern
had expired about this time by their own limitation ;
and such were the fears entertained abroad for New
York fires that it was next to impossible to get insured
elsewhere on any terms. Hence but a small portion was
under insurance at the time of the fire, so that only
about -$25,000 were realized from these sources to make
up the loss."
The agents and editors, encouraged by the general de-
monstrations of sympathy and liberality among the people,
devised a plan of new buildings and of enlarged business,
and in a few weeks presented it to the General Confer-
ence, when it was promptly sanctioned, and the establish-
ment rose, phoenix like, from its ashes to a more com-
manding importance than it had ever before possessed.
304 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXI.
GENERAL CONFERENCE OE 1836.
The delegation of the New York Conference to the
General Conference of 1836 was reduced to about one
half of what it had been at the preceding session ; but
the name of Nathan Bangs was still retained as indis-
pensable in the representation of his brethren before
that supreme judicatory of the Church. It was second
on the list, preceded only by that of the veteran Ostran-
der, and followed by Beverly Waugh, Peter P. Sandford,
and six others of similar note. The session began in Cin-
cinnati on the 2d of May, and continued twenty-six
days. It comprised a hundred and fifty-four delegates.
Dr. Bangs was active, as usual, in its most important
business. He procured the appointment of committees
on the better support of Preachers, their Widows and
Orphans, the support of Bishops and their families, on
Bible, Tract, and Sunday-School Societies, and on judicial
business — an anticipation of a later measure by which
the excessive inconvenience of appeals in the General
Conference has been greatly mitigated ; a favorite scheme
of his, as we have seen. He gave particular attention
to the interests of the Book Concern, Education, Missions,
Temperance, the Chartered Fund, and the still unadjusted
claims of his old friends, the Canada brethren. He was
chairman of the Committees on Missions, on the Quad-
rennial Address of the British Conference, on the Pas-
toral Address, and on an ^ddress to the British breth-
ren in behalf of the Temperance Reform.
The late disaster to the Book Concern, and the loss
of two bishops, by death, within the last year, threw over
THAN BANGS, D.D. 305
this session a shade of sadness, which was deepened by
a reported decrease of between two and three thousand
communicants within the same year of affliction.
PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH.
The aggregate gains of the quadrennial period were,
however, very encouraging, being no less that 139,414
communicants, and 748 traveling preachers; an average
per year of more than 34,800 communicants and 187
preachers. The prominent interests of the Church had all
advanced. Its colleges and seminaries had multiplied even
ss : there were now seven of the former and more
than twenty of the latter. There were no less than
eight weekly periodicals published within the denomina-
tion, half of them " official," at ISTew York, Cincinnati,
Charleston, and Nashville ; half independent, at Boston,
Portland, Auburn, and Richmond. The missionary cause
had grown rapidly since the last General Conference.
In the last single year its receipts surpassed those of
any preceding year by about twenty-tAvo thousand dol-
lars ; and in the various missionary stations there had
q within the same time an accession to the mem-
bership of the Church of more than four thousand
converts. The Liberia Mission was now organized
into an Annual Conference, and the operations of the
sionary Society had assumed such importance, and
involved such responsibility, as to justify, in the judg-
ment of the Conference, the appointment of a special
»r "Resident Corresponding Secretary," who
con' his whole attention to them. Of course
the mind of the Conference, as indeed of the general
Church, turned spontaneously to Dr. Bangs as the man
for such an ,d he « 1 by a majority
which surpassed that of any of the three bishops, <«r any
the numerous editors and Book Agents (save one of
the latter) who were elected by ballol during this session,
20 *
306 LIFE AND TIMES OF
MISSIONARY SECRETARY — GERMAN METHODISM.
At the adjournment of the Conference he returned to
New York, and entered with energy upon his new func-
tions. The first year of his secretaryship (1836-7) was
signalized by the first recognition and announcement by
the Missionary Society* of one of the most remarkable
events in the history of modern missions, the beginning
of the German Methodist Missions. Professor Nast, a
young German scholar of thorough but Rationalistic ed-
ucation, had been reclaimed by Methodism to the faith
of the Reformation. In 1835 he was sent to labor
among his countrymen in Cincinnati; in 1836 he was
appointed by the Ohio Conference to a German charge
on the Columbus District, comprising a circuit of three
hundred miles and twenty-two appointments. Thus
originated the most successful, if not the most import-
ant of Methodist missions; and in the next Annual Re-
port of the Society the "German Mission," and the
name of " William Nast," its founder and missionary,
were first declared to the general Church. German
Methodism rapidly extended through the nation, to Bos-
ton in the North-east, to New Orleans in the South-west.
German Methodist Churches, circuits, districts, were
organized. " In the brief space of fourteen years," says
the historian of Methodist Missions, " the German Mis-
sions have extended all over the* country, and now there
are seven thousand Church-members, thirty local preach-
ers, eighty-three regular mission circuits and stations,
and one hundred and eight missionaries. One hundred
churches have been built for German worship, and forty
parsonages. The increase in membership during the
past year (1848) was nearly one thousand. Primitive
Methodism appears to have revived in the zeal and sim-
plicity and self-sacrificing devotion of the German Meth-
odists. May they ever retain this spirit ! No agency
* Missionary Report of 1837.
d.d. 307
has ever been employed so specifically adapted to effect
the conversion of Romanists as that which is immediate-
ly connected with the German .Mission enterprise. The
pastoral visitations of the preachers bringing them into
immediate contact with German Catholics, their distri-
bution of Bibles and tracts, their plain, pointed, and
practical mode of preaching, all combine to bring the
truth to bear upon that portion of the population; and
the result is the conversion of hundreds from the errors
of Romanism."* The chief importance of the German
Mission has, however, been developed since this date.
It has not only raised up a mighty evangelical provision
for the host of German emigrants to the Xew World,
but it lias intrenched itself in the German " fatherland,"
and is laying broad foundations for a European German
Methodism. German Societies and circuits, a German
Conference, a German " Book Concern " and German
periodicals, with all the other customary appliances of
evangelical Churches, have been established; and, in our
day, this Teutonic Methodism comprises, on both sides
of the Atlantic, nearly 2 7,000 communicants, and nearly
three hundred missionaries. It early engaged the atten-
tion of the new Missionary Secretary as a chief interest
of his office.
TRAVELS FOR MISSIONS.
Though, as Resident Secretary, his most responsible du-
al, lie traveled extensively in promoting the
he journeyed up the Hudson, preaching
for it in all the principal communities on his route, lie
•d into Connecticut, and over much of Long Island,
an. I ►altimore. In the summer of i
lie again traveled over eastern New York and western
ing almost daily, and spreading the
sionary spirit among the Churches. u Methodism," he
wril taken deep hold of the understandings and
* Strickland, page I
308 LIFE AND TIMES OF
hearts of the people ; but in many places the Church suf-
fers greatly by emigration to the West." He records
some rather unfavorable reflections on the character of
the ministry as he observed it in this tour. " Most of the
preachers are young, and some of them ill-informed in
the studies and duties of the pastoral office." He thought
that he perceived an unfortunate change from "the burn-
ing yet steady zeal" of the earlier ministry, with its
deeply pious temper, to " an affected refinement " in
some, and a " mere ecclesiastical or controversial zeal in
others." "This remark," he adds, " must not be indis-
criminately applied to all, for I found some, who for
their talents, gravity, and evangelical simplicity would
compare advantageously with the earlier preachers.
Nothing is more important for the welfare of the Church
than an experienced, evangelical, and well-qualified min-
istry." It must, however, be borne in mind, that about
this time the great antislavery controversy was sweeping-
over that portion of the Church, moving all minds. It
was hardly a fitting time for a just estimation of the
spirit of the ministry, and the secretary's own standpoint
in that controversy was hardly the best for an impartial
judgment.
IN CANADA AGAIN.
In the autumn of the same year he visited the west
of the state, and passed again into Canada, refreshing,
with deep and affecting interest, his early Christian re-
membrances. He found his beloved sister still living in
the province, about eight miles from Niagara, "well, and
deeply devoted to God." Their meeting was one of much
tenderness and many tears. On Sunday he preached in
a church occupied by the society which he had first
joined as a Methodist about thirty-six years before.
" What a change," he writes, " did I witness ! Only
two persons, a widow and her daughter, did I recognize
as having been among my old acquaintances and class-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 309
mates. The children of my old friends had grown up,
and many of them had taken the places of their fathers
in the Church. They remembered me, but I could not
recollect them, for they had changed from childhood to
manhood. The reception they gave me was peculiarly
cardial and respectful, and what inexpressible memories
and emotions were called up by this passing return to
the place of my spiritual birth and of the commence-
ment of my ministerial labors. How many prayers and
vows did I make years ago, while bowing before the
Lord in a grove which stoed near the spot where stands
the JChurch ih which I now preached ; and how many
scenes of joy and sorrow have I passed through since
those days ! In the evening I preached at Thorold ; the
congregation was very large, and there I had the pleas-
ure of renewing my acquaintance with George Theifer,
Exp, who joined the Methodists about the same time
that I did. After spending two days with my sister I
left for Buffalo, taking my course along the shore on
the Canada side through Chippewa. Here also I
passed along the scenes of my youthful travels and
labors. I lodged with a Brother M'Affee, at whose
bouse I was refused a lodging in those days of
trial by another person on a winter's night, after the
piercing cold had been shaking my frame throughout
the day. Xow, through the religion of Christ, I was
welcomed with kindness and hospitality. The next day
I had the pleasure of greeting an old acquaintance, in
whose house I had often preached in those early di
On Tuesday we crossed to Buffalo in a horse-boat.
What a change has taken place here ! . At my first
it had two or three i now it is a city of nearly
twenty thousand souls, with elegant ! id OOStly
elm harbor is alive with Bteamers and other
What a country may these United States be if
they only keep U nd fear God and work rig
eoue in thifl excursion he traveled about a thou-
310 LIFE AND TIMES OF
sand miles, and preached nearly every other day for
missions.
SEA ADVENTURES OF HIS BROTHER.
In November of the same year he turned southward
as far as Virginia. On his route he paused in Phila-
delphia to see one of his brothers, the only one who re-
mained out of the Church. " I lodged," he says, " in
Philadelphia with my brother, Captain Elijah K. Bangs.
Tins brother has been a seaman ever since he was about
sixteen years of age. Indeed, before my father moved
from Bridgeport, Conn., when he was but eleven years
of age, Elijah went as a cabin-boy, at his own request,
on a voyage to the West Indies. Though he afterward
removed with us to Stamford, Delaware Co., N. Y., yet
such were his predilections for a seafaring life that he
never was contented until he obtained his father's con-
sent to go to sea again. Accordingly, when about six-
teen years of age he left his father's house, went to
Philadelphia, embarked as a common sailor, and has con-
tinued the life of a seaman ever since. He rose, however,
so rapidly that in his twenty-first year of age he took
the command of a ship for the East Indies, and has made
several voyages to that country. When I was stationed
in New York city, in 1811, he put into that harbor,
where I saw him after an absence of fifteen years. How
different were our conditions ! Since we had seen each
other I had experienced religion, and had been for
about ten years preaching the Gospel in different parts
of the country ; while he had been a sailor, had risen to
command, had been almost to every part of the world in
quest of the riches that perish with the using, and yet
had not obtained that after which he had so laboriously
sought. But I had forsaken the pursuit of worldly good
to obtain an ' inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and
that fadeth not away,' and had so far obtained the
object of my pursuit as to have, as I believed, a well-
D.D. 311
grounded hope of possessing this inheritance. There
was, therefore, but little congeniality of views between
us in these respects, notwithstanding we felt and loved
as brothers in the flesh. In the beginning of the troubles
between our country and Great Britain, which terminated
in the war of 1812, he was first taken by a British
cruiser under the ' Orders in Council' and carried to a
British port ; but the Court of Admiralty acquitted him
because it was proved that he had left the American
port before the ' Orders ' were promulgated. The first
day after leaving the English harbor he was boarded by
a French cruiser, taken to Dunkirk in France, and his
ship and cargo were condemned under the ' Milan
Decree ' because he had suffered his flag to be denation-
alized, as they called it, that is, to be taken by the En-
glish. What injustice was this! But it was the decree
of a tyrant, and must be enforced. %A short time before
he sailed my brother had married his second wife, a
Quaker lady of Philadelphia, and had her with him.
They were detained as prisoners in Dunkirk for about
two years. Here their eldest son was born. At the
time I saw him in Xew York harbor he had a new ship,
built as a fast sailer, with a view to elude the chase of
cruisers ; .but I told him he would probably fall into the
hands of one or the other of the belligerents. On his
arrival in France he wrote me, stating that although he
had been chased twice by the British he had eluded their
pursuit, and had arrived safely at Bordeaux. He ex-
changed his freight for a cargo of French brandy, and on
his return voyage, near the banks of Newfoundland, was
taken by a British man-of-war, carried to Halifax, in
Nova Scotia, and ship and cargo were condemned for
having traded with the French. Not long after this, in
ther -hip, lie was wrecked on the ooasf of Holland,
and in the mean time lost his estimable wife, by which
four children were left motherless. After various vdcis-
sitndes of good and ill luck he was finally forced to
312 LIFE AND TIMES OF
abandon that and all other employments by an obstinate
and, it seems, an incurable attack of rheumatism, by which
he has been confined to his room, and much of the time
to his bed, not able even to walk, for seven or eight years.
In this state of decrepitude I found him. I conversed
with him much on religion, but seemingly with no effect.
I left him with a prayer to God in his behalf — that he
may be saved. He is now living with his daughter
Rebecca, an amiable woman, who has an estimable
husband."
TRAVELS SOUTHWARD.
He passed on by steamboat and stage-coaches through
Baltimore and Washington, arriving at the latter city in
about thirteen hours, a speed which draws from him the
exclamation, " Such is the velocity of steam ! What a
mighty power does man possess over the elements and
laws of nature !" Tie was to live to see the time when
this surprise should itself become surprising. He visited
Fredericksburgh, Petersburgh, Richmond, and Norfolk,
preaching for missions, and taking collections which in
that day were considered extraordinary in amount. He
was much pleased with the warmth of religious feeling
which he found among the Churches of Virginia. A visit
to the venerable Bishop Moore, at Richmond, afforded
both of them no little gratification. " He is a truly venera-
ble man, and received us with all the simple courtesy of a
primitive bishop. His conversation was of a pious strain,
but also enlivened by interesting anecdotes, and remarka-
bly catholic in its allusions to other Christian commun-
ions than his own. He is by no means exclusive in his
views of ordination, but holds the principles of the late
Bishop White, of Pennsylvania."
On his return route he spent some time in Washington,
the guest of the late eminent Dr. Sewell, " whose Chris-
tian simplicity and hospitality," he writes, " made me
thankful to God for raising up such a man to stand as 4 a
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 313
burning: and Bhining light ' in the land." lie delivered
rive missionary die in the District and returned to
New V«'k. recording some saddened reflections on Vir-
ginia. %* Melancholy impressions were made upon my
mind as I passed through the state. That it is fast retro-
ia manifest to any observer. The blighting
infltu : y has left indelible marks of deteriora-
tion upon the whole condition of the country. Much of
the land has become exhausted and sterile. It will not
the agriculturist for his toil, and the state seem-
Toaning under the corse. Xo one can doubt that
slave labor is the most expensive of all labor, and, there-
fore, could it be abolished a regard for the temporal
interests of the people alone would dictate the policy
of emancipation. I am satisfied that it costs twice as
much to rear a family in Virginia as it does in the free
states, and of this fact many of the people of the state
seem to be fully convinced, and they would relieve them-
selves of the evil if they could; at least so those expn
themselves with whom I conversed. I am also con-
vinced that had not the injudicious measures of ultrai>ts
betrayed them into such sweeping denunciations of the
:h, before this day a train of measures would have
:i put in operation which would have eventuated in
emancipation. As things now are, however, I know not
how this is to be brought about. I wish here to record
my conviction that slavery is a curse from which e
1 man ought to labor to be delivered ; but I see that
northern measures a: rating the difficulties
of emancipation."' These were his candid opinions ; he
could not yet accept the equally candid opinions of other
men, that extreme measures alone could uproot this
ial vice.
j Tin: < OBTBOYSBS ::V.
From his infancy he had been trained to abhor slavery.
EQfl Church had always considered it a legitimate subject
314 LIFE AXD TIMES OF
for its remonstrating testimony ; but of late years it had
become a question of rife controversy, especially in the
north-eastern Conferences, and it seemed to him so badly
managed, and so menacing to the unity of the denomina-
tion, as to justify his persistent opposition to the anti-
slavery leaders, whom he considered destructives rather
than reformers. It was difficult indeed for even mod-
erate men to maintain their equanimity under the preva-
lent excitement. Slavery became a party question — a
test question in fine ; the elections for delegates to the
General Conference, and of even Conference secretaries
and committees, being complicated with it. The ad-
ministration of the bishops was impeached, and Bish-
op Hedding especially was pursued by fierce and unre-
lenting hostility as he passed from Conference to Con-
ference. " Generally," says his biographer, " a cloud of
lecturers (mostly Methodist preachers) hung about his
path, perverting and misrepresenting his acts and charac-
ter." * The bishop appealed to one of the New England
Conferences for redress against the charges of two of its
members, Rev. Messrs. Scott and Sunderland. The Con-
ference sustained these men, and if it did not thereby
virtually indorse, it refused at least to rebuke their
reflections upon him. The bishops generally were treated
with similar severity. Dr. Wilbur Fisk was formally
accused by Rev. La Roy Sunderland, and would have been
judicially tried before his own Conference (a majority of
which were opposed to him) had it not been for a pri-
vate compromise, through which the charges were with-
drawn. Dr. Bangs was now (1838) cited to trial before
the New York Conference by Rev. Orange Scott, under
grave charges of public misconduct toward the latter
in the course of the controversy. These charges related
to newspaper articles of the doctor on the speeches and
* Eev. Dr. Clark's " Life and Times of Hedding," etc., chapter xvi.
1 must refer the reader to this book for a somewhat full and candid
report of the controversy.
D.D. 315
writings of Mr. Scott. They were referred to a commit-
tee, consisting of Rev. Drs. Holdich, Hodgson, and Ken-
nady, and Rev. Messrs. Arnold and Seney. The accused
and accuser appeared before this committee, and "the
charges and specifications were successively presented and
duly considered." The committee reported that " they
are unanimously of the opinion that there is no cause of
complaint against the defendant, and therefore respect-
fully submit the following resolution: That the charges
against Dr. Nathan Bangs are not sustained, and that
bis character pass." The Conference adopted the reso-
lution by a vote of one hundred and fifty-one for, and
nine against it. In his manuscript journal Dr. Bangs
- : " God enabled me to vindicate my conduct against
these charges in a manner perfectly satisfactory to my-
self, and I think also to my friends, as well as to the
confusion of my adversaries. The motive of my accuser
I leave to himself and to the Judge of all, hoping he
may find acceptance in that day which shall disclose
the secrets of all hearts."
This great controversy, beginning about 1834, had
now extended through many of the northern Confer-
ences. It had raged in the last General Conference. It
continued to shake the denomination for years. Numer-
ous conventions were held for the discussion of the sub-
ject. It was debated in Annual Conferences and Quar-
terly Conferences, in individual Churches, in pamphlets,
and in the periodicals of the Church. It became the
absorbing theme of large portions of the denomination,
the ministry and people being distributed into at least
three parties, ot classes, the extreme antislavery party, the
extreme opposition, and an intermediate class. Both ex-
tra usual, were obnoxious i<> animadversion,
iltra-abolitionists " were accused of dangerous
impetuosity, *»f illegal measures, and unjustifiable severity
of 1: : the extreme opposition, while professing
^und antislavery sentiments, wa> accused of too much
316 LIFE AND TIMES OF
reticence on the question, of less zeal against slavery
than against the antislavery leaders, and was called
" pro-slavery." Meanwhile the moderate party pro-
nounced both extremes in error, insisting that the
Church Discipline presented a good testimony against
slavery, that prudent " free speech " could be maintained
on the subject in the Church organs, and otherwise, with-
out disloyalty to the denomination, and without personal
wranglings ; and that if by such legitimate discussions a
time should come when circumstances and public opin-
ion should justify any modification of the disciplinaiy
rules respecting slavery it could be constitutionally
made, and that all good Methodists should submissively
abide the result. The extreme opposition predicted, as
probable if not inevitable, from the measures of the anti-
slavery leaders, a rupture of the denomination, and con-
sequent danger of a rupture of the Federal Union, for
Methodism was the chief religious and, in a sense, the
chief social tie between the northern and southern States,
its ramifications extending through every city, town,
village, and almost every neighborhood of the South.
The other extreme party, if not disposed to smile at
these prophecies, deemed the more active opposition of
the Church to slavery a duty paramount to the consid-
eration of any such contingent perils. The moderate
party, or rather class, believing that the Church could
maintain a legitimate policy on the question, with due
caution against such fearful hazards, asserted that the
chief, if not only difficulty in the way of such a policy
was the personal passions, not to say the official ambi-
tion, of the party leaders on both sides. The agitation
swept at last like a hurricane over the northern and es-
pecially the eastern Conferences. Their sessions were
sometimes attended with incredible excitement. The
bishops while officially visiting them were usually attend-
ed by leading brethren from other Conferences, men
who sympathized with the episcopal policy on the ques-
D.D. 317
tion, and whose influence and ability could, it was sup-
1. aid in sustaining the episcopal administration
amid the storm. Dr. Bangs was active in this sort of
toe, aS hi> missionary secretaryship led him to many
Conferences. He loved the Church as few men then
living could love it; he thought h3 saw in the agi-
tation the portents of frightful disasters; he, therefore,
rongly ; the personal severities of his opponents
provoked him to severe replies, and his voice and manner
in del »ate gave an exaggerated impression of his temper.
Ilis brotherly sympathy with his old friend, the saintly
ling, and with the equally devoted Fisk, both chief
;ts of the hostility of the ultra antislavery leaders,
led him to stand by them in the hardest brunt of the
contest. The biographer of Hedding says the bishop
k- witnessed, with painful emotion, the excited state of
feeling in the New England and New Hampshire Confer-
ences. He was distressed beyond measure at the ultra
measures that were adopted by many members, the
harsh e - that were used, and the consequent
alienation of feeling among those who had long lived and
labored together as brethren, and also at the imperious
and arrogant spirit of some of the leaders, which he felt
imely checked, could end in nothing but
the most radical and determined opposition to the gov-
ernment and salutary discipline of the Church. lie had
2 ly in the personal abuse that was heaped
upon th< on account of prospective raght
lify the course of the new and radical
' >u< of the N ad and New
Hampshire < bad been anticipated
by an ' Appeal ' on tl addressed to
•me of the prominent abolil
:. we believe, principally by
• the in-
inter Appeal,1 Bigned
John Lis irtholomew Otheman, Abel
318 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Stevens, and others, was issued in the fall of the same
year. It was also accompanied by a note from Bishop
Hedding, in which he expressed his belief of the correct-
ness of its statements and arguments, especially those
relating to the acts of the General Conference."
This aocument, however unsound in some of its sec-
ondary positions, was essentially sound in its antislavery
doctrines. It agreed with the general sentiment of bib-
lical critics and the Christian world respecting the scrip-
tural doctrine on the subject, and it was written with
remarkable ability. The biographer of Hedding, after
citing examples of its opinions, adds: "A document
containing sentiments like the above must have been
singularly incongruous to have been pro-slavery in its
general character ; or, had its authors designed it as a
defense of slavery, they certainly shot very wide of their
general design in these passages. The pen of so skillful a
logician and so forcible and scholarly a writer as Profes-
sor Whedon, by whom the main labor of its preparation
was performed, could hardly have been guilty of such
aberrations ; and yet both of these charges were laid
against the 'Counter Appeal' and its authors. The
conflict had now fairly commenced. That Church which
had always most strongly protested against the great
evil of slavery, was most fiercely denounced. Some of
the more ultra and less cautious did not hesitate to de-
clare that they would never falter till they had ' split the
great Methodist prop to slavery.' "
The " Counter Appeal," and indeed every counter effort,
seemed only to afford the ultra leaders new material for
the spreading combustion. It raged on amid dissonant
brethren, divided Churches, and contending Conferences.
If any observer, praying and trembling for the Church,
dared to hope that the violence of the storm in the
General Conference of 1836 would be its culmination,
he was speedily disappointed. It swept on for years.
At last, however, wiser counsels began to be sug-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 319
jested, especially in the eastern Conferences. " Zion's
Herald," published in Boston, had been from the be-
ginning largely occupied by the writings of Messrs.
Scott, Sunderland, and their fellow-leaders of the ex-
treme ant isla very party. Other men, equally zealous
for the slave, but more considerate of the safety of
the Church, began now to speak in its columns, and it
became manifest that the people were losing their, confi-
dence in the ability and discretion of the old leaders of
the controversy. The Herald was published by a com-
pany of laymen, who elected its editor, and many of whom
had been always opposed to the extreme violence of the
agitation. At the suggestion of Dr. Fisk, a young
man who had been educated by himself, and who had
signed with him the " Counter Appeal," and was, there-
fore, known to be " conservative," though decidedly anti-
slavery, was appointed by these laymen editor of the
paper. He immediately adopted and published in its
columns certain restrictions on the controversy which
were violently resented by the party leaders, but as
promptly sanctioned by the Churches generally. The
former soon revolted and organized a secession, and thus
relieved the denomination of many disturbing and un-
controllable spirits. They ceased not, however, to assail
the Church ; they transferred from Lowell a small journal
and planted it near the Herald in Boston, as an opposition
n. It was not sustained there, however, and before
_ was removed to New York. The schismatic Churcl
expired generally in the New England States, and it is
doubtful whether an important trace of them still remains
thei' T e policy of the Herald was to maintain in its
columns a perfectly free interchange of opinions (for all
parties) on the general question of slavery, but 1<>
exclude all persona] wrangling, all local disputes on the
question between Churches and their pastors or their
presiding el ;' which had become grievous
evils,) to expunge from all article- vituperative language,
320 LIFE AtfD TIMES OF
and to allow no disloyal reflections on the Church, its
laws or its administrators. It asserted that the Disci-
pline of the Church is evangelically antislavery, though
it has always recognized the right of Christian masters
to membership in its communion, and has never, from its
organization, been one hour without such members ; that
in this respect it is conformed to the example of the
primitive Church and the Pauline counsels to masters
and slaves, (as had been shown in the " Counter Appeal,"
and taught by all accredited biblical expositors,) but
that, like the apostolic Church, it places both masters
and slaves under a moral regimen adapted to purify their
mutual relation from its prevalent evils, and prepare the
way for its extirpation ; that the Church tolerated the
relation, but pronounced it a " great evil," and aimed
expressly at its " extirpation," interdicting meanwhile
the slave traffic and other abuses ; that, in fine, all its
moral discipline, as prescribed in the " General Rules,"
applied directly or indirectly to slavery as to the other
relations of its members. The schismatic leaders accused
the denomination of not only tolerating but of sanction-
ing slavery, and defined slavery in such a manner as to
include in it traffic in the bodies and souls of men, the
separation of families, adultery, the lash, etc. This was
especially done by a convention held at Utica, "N. Y.
The- loyal antislavery writers spurned the monstrous mis-
representation. Much perplexed discussion prevailed on
the ethics and metaphysics of the subject — on the essence
of slavery as logically distinguished from its mere form,
on slavery per se, slavery in the abstract and slavery in
the concrete, and the controversy, in fine, created a
vocabulary, a terminology of its own. If the Utica defi-
nition of slavery were correct, then the Methodist Epis-
copal Church admitted no slavery in its Discipline. Ab-
solutely it admitted no essential slavery, but only the
form of the relation, and this because of the civil laws
of certain states, which prohibited emancipation, or
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 321
because there were circumstances — of age or childhood,
of infirmity or incapacity — in which, as Bishop Heckling
i. the "Golden Rule'' itself might render the
mere form of the relation a duty on some men already
involved in it — in other words, on the same grounds on
which the apostolic Church tolerated it. The Utica
definition was admissible as a characterization of slavery
in general, and as virtually defensive of the Discipline of
the Church ; but as an imputation against the Church it
was repelled. In view of this definition and the discus-
sions which followed, "Zion's Herald" declared that
slavery has no more constitutional right in the Methodist
Episcopal Church " than the devil has in heaven ;" and
this was said, and said justly, while the paper was declar-
ing habitually that the form of the relation was tolerated
in the Church ; that Christian masters had, and (as an
unquestionable historical fact) had always had a constitu-
tional right to membership, and that no new law (that is
to say, no new term of membership) could be constitu-
tionally made against that right, except by the stringent
process prescribed by the " Restrictive Rules " of the
Discipline. Vindicating the Church against the impeach-
ments of the schismatics, and yet hoping to see it more
actively and generally interested for the slave than it had
been, the tone of the eastern Churches on the question
became healthful and loyal. If less was said on the
t than before, there was not less interest for it,
but 1< - jity tor it- on, as theChurches had
le harmonized, if not indeed unanimous. The
verbal or metaphysical discriminations and hair-splitting
. or Legitimate) of the discussion gave
way to more intelligible and practical views, and the
I inferences present iparatively uniform
and tranquil aspect. Th<-y v Uy antMavery and
dly Met:
->ns of the denomination, however — those
which had more recently become the scenes of the con-
21
322 LIFE AND TIMES OF
troversy — the spirit of contention prevailed disastrously,
and afforded more permanent and more fertile fields for
the schism which had begun but was now expiring in
New England. The " Northern Independent " became
at last the organ of extreme opinions ; and the organ of
the seceders, formerly transferred from Boston to New
York city, was removed from the latter to the interior of
New York, and became the intimate and co-working
neighbor of the " Independent." The interior and west-
ern Conferences of the state were shaken, if not to some
extent shattered, by the collisions of parties. Dr. Bangs
entered into these agitations with his usual energy, some-
times in the journals of the Church, and sometimes in
speeches. The controversy continued to extend, and
grave ecclesiastical questions arose in connection with it
which again excited New England. The denomination
was rent asunder in 1844; an event which Webster,
Clay, and other senators pronounced the probable omen
of national disaster if not of national disruption. Dr.
Bangs was destined to live to see the latter calamity
with its attendant horrors of civil war, and such a civil
war as the world had never seen before within the range
of recorded history. Antislavery and patriotic to the
last, he shrunk not before the coming storm ; he con-
tinued to write, not only for the Church, but for the
slave ; he published, as we shall see, a volume in behalf
of the latter. He seldom paused to ask which party
was to blame for the terrible issues of the long and vio-
lent contest, if indeed he supposed either party to be
responsible for them, or that they could possibly have
been averted after the profound degeneration of the South
by slavery. He died believing that God had at last taken
the problem into his own almighty hand, and thrusting
aside nearly all the original party leaders, would work
out its solution with such retributions, on Church and.
State, North and South, as should astonish all the civil-
ized world, and rebuke alike the truculence and coward-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 323
ice of men. We shall hereafter have occasion to notice
his maturest views of the great question. This rapid
glance at the general scope of the controversy must here
suffice. The time }ias not yet come for the impartial
judgment of history on its more personal and more
painful details. Whatever that judgment, however, may
finally be, it will admit that such men as Hedding, Fisk,
and Bangs were sound in the antislavery sentiments of
the fathers of the Church and of the republic ; that if
they erred in respect to practical methods of rendering
those sentiments effective, their error was the result of a
sincere devotion to the unity and peace of the Church
and the State. History will probably show that the
leaders on both sides were nearly, if not quite identical
in their essential opinions on slavery, and that their
mutual hostilities, resulting in such lamentable strifes and
follies, were the consequences of their common infirmities.
MISSIONARY LABORS SICKNESS.
Signally acquitted of the charges brought against him,
before his own Conference, in 1838,Dr. Bangs continued
his labors as Missionary Secretary. Accompanied by
Rev. Mr. Seyes, who had just returned from Africa, lie
passed rapidly through the Eastern States, pleading for
the cause before their Conferences and the congrega-
tions of their principal cities, as far as Augusta, .Mr.
The next year he pursued his beneficent errand west-
ward, crossing tin- Alleghanies, and attending the Pitts-
burgh Conference. In every place, where an oppor-
tunity occurred, he presented the claims of the Miesion-
" it-iv. After a long absence he returned to New
[hansted that he was seized with a dangerous
•• Dr. Reese,91 he writes, "was much alarmed, but
by bleeding, calomel, and emetics In- Bubdned the fever,
and then, by • of quinine, prevented it- return.
When it lef) me, which was «mi the Beventh day of the
attack, I was so reduced that I could scarcely speak j
324
LIFE AND TIMES OF
but, by the blessing of God, I soon began to regain my
strength, and am now (Sept. 16, 1839) able to walk the
streets and attend to some business. During the seventy
of the attack my mind has been free from all anxiety ;
such a sense of the goodness of God has rested upon me
as to remove all fearful apprehensions, whether for life
or for death. How unspeakably precious, at such a
time, is the religion of Christ ! It seemed that I beheld
the reflected rays of the Divine glory shining from the
face of Christ, dispelling every cloud, and brightening
the heavenly world as the future residence of the saints.
I desire here to record my gratitude to God for such
manifestations of his grace to my soul, and for blessing
the means used for my recovery. Though I felt no
fear, in the extremity of my sufferings, nor any anxiety
respecting the future, yet when I began to improve I
felt the love of life return gradually, and a grateful
desire yet to live and labor' for humanity with my re-
newed strength. How admirable is this instinct of
nature, this law of Providence ! Did we not naturally
cling to life, who would endure its sufferings, its toils,
its disappointments? This love of life is one of the
wisest and most beneficent provisions of our Creator,
as the means of heightening the pleasures of social and
individual existence, of perpetuating the struggling race,
of inducing man to make a suitable provision for his sus-
tenance and comfort. Hence I am pained to hear Chris-
tians talk of their contempt of life — of the world and its
blessings. These are all the gifts of our heavenly'Fa-
ther, and are to be used, not abused, in his service ; and
the love of life is to be cherished and employed so that
we may answer the great end of our existence in the
longest and best possible term of probation."
LITERARY LABORS.
He was soon again abroad for his favorite mission
work, visiting the large cities, consulting with cabinet
NATHAN.' BANGS, D.D. 325
officers at Washington in behalf of the Indian tribes,
and meanwhile conducting a laborious official corre-
spondence, lie could not altogether abandon his old
studious habits. His pen was busily employed, during
years, in writing articles for the periodicals of the
Church on mi- 3, on the antislavery controversy,
and on more general topics. Over the signature of
M Ecclesia," he published *a series of essays in the
Christian Advocate — an elaborate discussion of the
polity of the apostolic Church and the scriptural va-
lidity of the government of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Xot a little patristic learning is displayed in
these papers, and they are replete with that robust,
practical sense which characterized all his opinions.
They were afterward issued in a volume, bearing the
title of "An Original Church of Christ."
In snatches of leisure, during these four years — even-
ing hours or days of travel, or of occasional rest — he
was busy, reading or meditating the materials for his
u History of the Methodist Episcopal Church." He had
labored upon this work about twelve years, and had
brought the narrative down to the year 1810, when his
manuscript was consumed in the fire which destroyed
the Book Concern. Xo one but an author who has suf-
fered a similar calamity can fully appreciate it. In the
collection of materials, the study and collocation of books,
pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts, the clearing up of
rities, the solution of apparent contradictions, the
grouping of events, the portraiture of characters, the
very labor of style, of individual phrases, there is, with
much drii'L little pleasure. Much of the zest of
origin attends the task. It> labor is over
if can well be estimated, and is then crowned
with tl -fnl achievement. But
IS worker then a that, had he fully
anticij difficult;- _a which he ha- happily
id his
326 LIFE AND TIMES OF
task never have been begun. The necessity of repeating
it, with such a knowledge of its difficulties, though con-
quered difficulties, is perhaps the most repugnant, the
most formidable trial that can depress a literary man.
Dr. Bangs's courage was, however, equal to this exi-
gency— the loss of a record extending over forty-fcfur
years, considerably more than half of the chronological
range of his four volumes. His strong love of the
Church, the conviction that his long personal relation to
its history afforded him peculiar facilities, and imposed
upon him peculiar responsibility for the task, constrained
him to resume it. At the preceding General Conference
he was authorized, by express vote, to use its manuscript
documents, and he was now hard at work upon them,
laying a much broader basis for his History than he had
originally designed. It was the toil and, in no small
degree, the pleasure of years. "I find," he writes,
"great difficulties, but also great satisfaction, in thus
tracing this widening stream of evangelical truth from
its small beginning in 1*766. What has God wrought
by Methodism in this country since that time!" The
first volume was published in 1838.
CENTENARY OF METHODISM.
In 1839 was celebrated the hundredth anniversary
of Methodism. Dr. Bangs was active in promoting
the plans of this great commemoration in America.
The English Methodists appointed the 25th of October
as a day of festive religious observance throughout
their Churches in all parts of the world. Pecuniary
contributions for certain great interests* of the Church
were called for, and the call was answered by a
liberality never before equaled in any one instance
in their history, if, indeed, in the history of any
other Christian body. The Wesleyans gave one million
and eighty thousand dollars. The American Methodists
gave six hundred thousand. The latter had for years
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 327
been expending extraordinary sums in providing their
new Btates with churches, colleges, and academies. If
they had more wealth, they had also vastly more ex-
- than their English brethren, and their centenary
donations were considered liberal. "A very general pul-
sation, n writes Dr. Bangs, " was felt throughout the en-
tire Methodist community in favor of the celebration,
and the several Annual Conferences adopted measures for
its observance on the day appointed. As nearly as can
be ascertained, the amount collected was divided as fol-
towB : About one half was to be devoted for the benefit
of superannuated preachers, the widows, children, and
orphans of preachers ; two-tenths for the support of mis-
sions ; and the remainder for the promotion of education.
The manner in which the celebration was conducted had
a hallowing influence upon the Church generally, and
tended very much to increase the spirit of devotion.
Sermons were preached and addresses delivered in al-
most every society throughout the connection, both on
the 25th of October, the day on which the foundation of
Methodism was laid by forming the first class, and on
previous days for the purpose of taking up collections
for the objects specified. It was indeed a sublime spec-
tacle to contemplate the assemblage of more than one
million of people, joined by perhaps three times that
number of friends, uniting to offer up thanksgiving to
God. It gave us an opportunity of reviewing first
principles, of estimating anew the blessings bestowed
upon us as a people, of praising God for the past,
and of clustering together motives for future trust and
diligence."
On the 25th of October Methodists throughout the
earth met in their temples to thank God for his blessings
upon the first crreat cycle of their history. Signal indeed
had h in ! 791, at the
head of a host of I chers, and 140,000
communicants in the United Kingdom, the British Prov-
328 LIFE AND TIMES OF
inces, in, the United States, and the West Indies; at the
centenary, less than half a century later, the denomina-
tion had grown to more than 1,171,000, including about
5,200 itinerant preachers, in the Wesleyan and Methodist
Episcopal Churches ; and, comprising the various bodies
bearing the name of Methodists, to an army of more
than 1,400,000, of whom 6,080 were itinerant preachers.
Its missionaries, accredited members of different Confer-
ences, were about three hundred and fifty, with nearly
an equal number of salaried, and about three thousand
unpaid assistants. They occupied about three hundred
stations, each station being the head of a circuit. They
were laboring in Sweden, Germany, France, Cadiz, Gib-
raltar, Malta, Western and Southern Africa, Ceylon,
Continental India, New South Wales, Van Dieman's
Land, New Zealand, Tonga, Habai Islands, Vavou Isl-
ands, Fiji Islands, the West Indies. They had under in-
struction in their mission schools about fifty thousand
pupils, and in their mission Churches were more than
seventy thousand communicants. At least two hundred
thousand persons heard the Gospel regularly in their
mission chapels. The Methodist missionaries were now
more numerous than the whole Wesleyan ministry, as
enrolled on the Minutes of Wesley's last Conference, and
their missionary communicants were about equal to the
whole number of Methodists in Europe at that day.
Wesley presided over Methodism during its first half
century and two years more ; during the remainder of
the century it reproduced, in its missions alone, the
whole numerical force of its first half century.*
SUCCESS OF THE MISSIONARY SECRETARYSHIP.
At the conclusion of Dr. Bangs's present quadrennial
appointment the Church had reason to congratulate
itself on his official success. A committee of the Board
* History of the Keligious Movement of the Nineteenth Century,
called Methodism, vol. iii, p. 509.
d.d. 329
of Managers of the Missionary Society reported on his
services in emphatic language. "His duties," they said,
"have been extensive and arduous, both at home and
abroad, demonstrating the necessity of having such an
officer. In addition to the preparation of Annual Re-
ports and other documentary manuscripts, the correspond-
ence of the Society exhibits more than live hundred
official letters to missionaries, etc. During the four years,
- the duties of Corresponding Secretary in the
office at home, and the preparation of multiplied reports
for publication in the Advocate, he has traveled in the
service of the society more than eleven thousand miles
in visiting ten Annual Conferences, some of them twice
and thrice, and in holding missionary meetings in ten dif-
ferent states in the Union. He has delivered one hund-
red and thirty-four missionary sermons and addresses in
various parts of the country, and been directly instru-
mental in this way of bringing into the treasury the
amount of 113,427. How far his labors and writings
have been further tributary to the increase of our funds we
have no data upon which to make the estimate. We in-
vite attention, however, to the increased contributions to
our treasury since his appointment, as affording evidence
that the cause is improving annually under the present
a of operations. During the first year of his
appointment the receipts were 802,749 ; the second,
$90,105 36; the third, 135,521 94; and this, too, not-
withstanding the unprecedented prostration of the times.
The amount of the fourth and last year is not yet
tained, but will be found comparatively large, though
in the previous year, because of the special efforts
made for the centenary fund, a portion of which is des-
tined to our treasury.
iew of the whole subject, your committee
respectfully submit the following resolutions to be com-
muni the next General I
u fiesolved, Thai the exj i f the last four years
330 LIFE AND TIMES OF
has amply confirmed the propriety of the appointment
of a Corresponding Secretary devoted to the interests of
this Society, as prayed for at the last General Conference.
" Resolved, That this board bear their united testimony
to the diligent, faithful, and successful performance of
the duties of the office by the present incumbent ; and in
view of his long experience in the service of the board,
we shall rejoice at his reappointment by the next Gen-
eral Conference." *
* History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, etc., vol. iv, p. 384.
The following table shows the financial growth of the Society from
the year preceding Dr. Bangs' s appointment to the session of the Gen-
eral Conference of 1840.
Amount Received. Amount Expended.
1836 $59,517 16 $53,865 20
1837 62,749 01 66,536 85
1838 90,105 36 95,110 75
1839 135,521 94 103,664 58
1840 116,941 90 146,498 58
VATHAJf BANGS, D.D. 331
CHAPTER XXII.
SERVICES IX THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1840.
The name of Xathan Bangs headed the list of ten
delegates from the New York Conference to the Gen-
eral Conference of 1 840, which began its session in Bal-
timore on the first of May. Having been at every
session from its organization as a delegated body, no
member was more familiar with its functions and order
of business. His authority on almost every important
question was spontaneously recognized by his fellow-
delegates. It is a striking proof of his parliamentary
skill, that in the proceedings of a single morning he had
"ii to appeal three times from the decision of the
chair to the Conference on points of order, and was
voted to be right in every instance — no less a disciplina-
rian than Bishop Hedding himself being in the chair.
His name appears on the records of every day's proceed-
>r more than the first three weeks ; and there are
but eight days in the whole thirty-four of the session on
which it does not occur in the Journals. This activity
was not in long and obtrusive speeches ; he seldom or
never made speeches in the General Conference, but
was ever ready to prompt or abbreviate business by perti-
nent suggestions or timely motions. As usual at pre-
ceding sessions, his attention was particularly given to
the leading affairs of the Church, Missions, the Book Con-
■hools, Educational Institutions, Slavery,
African Colonization, the revision and more methodical
arrangement of the Discipline, the relations of superan-
nuated and supernumerary p . and the Chartered
Fund.
332 LIFE AND TIMES OF
He initiated at this Conference the custom, ever since
followed, of publishing the daily proceedings by official
reporters. He was chairman of what may be considered
the most important committee of the session, that on
Slavery, including a delegate from every Annual Confer-
ence, and such men as Hamline, Bascom, Pierce, (after-
ward bishops,) George Peck, Wightman, Smith, Power,
Hopkins, Spicer, Orange Scott — of a committee on an
application of Bishop Hedding for Redress of Grievances
suffered by him from some of his opponents in Annual
Conferences, and also of the Committee on the Chartered
Fund. He served as a member of the committees on
Education, on African Colonization, and on a new and
improved edition of the Discipline. He was appointed,
with Drs. Durbin, Bascom, Tomlinson, Early, and other
leading men, a Commissioner of the Church in behalf of
its educational interests, and finally was re-elected Gen-
eral Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Method-
ist Episcopal Church. The great growth of the mission-
ary enterprise induced the Conference to appoint two
additional secretaries, Dr. William Capers, for the South,
and Dr. E. R. Ames, for the West.
The session was much agitated by the antislavery con-
troversy, but achieved a great amount of useful busi-
ness. Rev. Robert Newton, representative from the
Centenary Conference of England, added much to its
interest by his extraordinary eloquence. Dr. Bangs had
assisted at his reception in New York, and addressed him
there, in the name of the Church, at the public services
of his leave-taking for home. With prosperity in all its
leading enterprises during the last four years, the statis-
tics of the Church showed a great advance in its ministry
and membership. At the preceding General Conference
it reported 2,781 traveling preachers, and 650,678 com-
municants. In September preceding the present session
they amounted to 3,296 preachers, and 740,459 commun-
icants, showing an increase of 515 preachers, and 89,781
NATHAN- BANGS, D.D. 333
communicants. " We record it with thanksgiving,
though we reckon not our strength by numbers," said
the Conference in its letter by Dr. Newton to the Wes-
leyan Conference.
ELECTED PRESIDENT OF WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
Dr. Bangs's services in the Missionary Secretaryship
continued but about one year longer. On the 20th of
January, 1841, he was elected President of the Wes-
leyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, an appoint-
ment which he always afterward regretted, and by
which he made the greatest self-sacrifice of his life.
He was content, more than content, in his late posi-
tion ; he was thoroughly acquainted with all its
duties and interests. Xo other man in the denomination
was equally familiar with them. It identified him with
a cause which was most vital and most important in his
Church, and of which he has justly been called the father.
For this reason he had declined a former election to a
college presidency in Augusta, Ky., and two nominations
to the episcopal office. He doubted his qualification for
a collegiate chair ; for though he had been an assiduous
student, and was somewhat acquainted with the He-
brew, Greek, Latin, and French languages, and compe-
tent to teach the Moral and Intellectual Sciences, he
-<ed no knowledge of collegiate discipline, and was
too far advanced in life for any successful preparation for
w office. But his predecessor, Dr. Olin, had failed
in health, and had nominated him for the place. The
Faculty of the University visited New York, and urged
up<>n him the importance, the necessity of his acceptance.
He appealed to his ministerial brethren of" the city, but
I that it was hifl duty to yield: and -it las
ial of his best predilections, he did so, in deference
to the general command of the Church. It is unneces-
sary to delay our narrative with any detailed ac
of his services at Middletown. He found the institution
334 LIFE AND TIMES OF
tottering under debt and declining in public patronage,
through the long vacancy of its presidential chair. Its
friends did not expect of him any important services as
an instructor, but it was supposed that his high denom-
inational reputation and his paternal superintendence of
the government of the University would command public
confidence, while a competent Faculty would maintain
its rank for scholarship. He was encouraged at first by
an apparent return of prosperity to the institution. In
the ^spring of 1842 he wrote: "One thing which has
operated much to the disadvantage of the University has
been the diminished confidence of the public after the
death of Dr. Fisk. The number of students began to
decline, so that the Junior class of this year, which was
the Freshman class after his death, consists only of
twenty-two, not quite half the number of the Seniors who
were the Freshmen of the year previous to his death,
then numbering forty-six. The number of new students
at the beginning of the last term was thirty-six, though
the Freshman class consists of only twenty-four, the
remainder having entered in advanced classes. We
have also had six added to the Freshman class this term,
making the whole number thirty. This, I am informed,
is an unusual number for the middle of the year. These
facts are encouraging, and show that the public confi-
dence is returning."
There was discontent, however, among the students;
their president was himself not a graduate; they dis-
cussed among themselves the significance of his name
on their diplomas ; their dissatisfaction reached him in a
painful manner, and he resigned his office. The Faculty
and some of the students remonstrated against this act,
but he persisted. The "Joint Board" adopted resolu-
tions expressing their regret at his resignation, and tend-
ering him thanks for his services. The Faculty ad-
dressed him a letter of affectionate farewell. The Alumni,
at their annual meeting for 1842, sent him a letter ex-
D.D. 335
pressing "their sincere regret that circumstances have
induced him to resign the Presidency of their Alma
Mater!" and a number of students united in a protest
against the alleged unjustifiable form of the opposition of
the malcontents.
HE RETURNS TO THE PASTORATE.
Dr. Bangs retired from the University immediately
after the commencement of 1842. He had suffered much
in his health and spirits while at Middletown, "and
now," he writes, "I was thrown out of employment and
had no means of support." The Missionary Society ap-
pointed him to collect funds for its treasury, but his suc-
cessor in the secretaryship " violently opposed " this ap-
pointment, and it was considered not to be authorized by
the acts of the General Conference respecting the insti-
tution ; he abandoned therefore these labors. It seemed
hard to him, in view of his arduous, and for many years
gratuitous services for the Society, that a temporary en-
gagement like this, which could not fail to be advan-
tageous to the treasury, should be so fastidiously criti-
cized. As he had collected some hundreds of dollars,
the Board tendered him a compensation ; he declined to
receive it, and retired submissively but sadly. " I was
again afloat," he writes, " upon a rough sea. My God,
however, soon provided for me. A vacancy occurring in
the Second-street Church, New York, I was appointed to
it, through the kindness of Rev. Phineas Rice, the presid-
ing elder. He assured me that the official brethren unan-
imously wished me to take charge of them. I thankfully
accepted. My family was still at Middletown, but I was
accommodated with comfortable board at Mr. Miller's.
His excellent wife soon informed me that she was one of
my own spiritual children ; she was indeed a daughter
to me in the Lord, and treated me as a father in theGos-
pel. I was attacked with a dangerous illness, which dis-
abled me for a fortnight, and left me feeble the remain-
336 LIFE AND TIMES OF
der of the year. This affliction had a sanctified effect
upon my soul, and tended, through the blessing of
Divine grace, to lead me nearer to God and make me
more diligent in preparing for another world. I endeav-
ored to urge upon my congregation the necessity and
privilege of entire sanctification, and I had the happiness
of witnessing the blessed fruit of my labors in the
awakening and conversion of sinners, and the 'building
up of believers in their most holy faith.' A very consid-
erable revival of religion took place, without any extra-
ordinary effort, other than preaching plainly and point-
edly, praying earnestly for the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, and urging upon all classes the necessity of holi-
ness of heart and life. O what seasons of refreshing
from the presence of the Lord did I experience while
unfolding to the people the unbounded love of God to a
lost world ! And how eagerly did the people of God re-
ceive the word, while apparently -they were made to
rejoice in God their Saviour. I must say that the time
I spent in Second-street was the most happy two
years I had enjoyed for the last thirty years. Though
I had endeavored to discharge my multifarious duties
while in the Book Concern, and while Corresponding
Secretary of the Missionary Society, yet such was the
pressure of those duties, not to say burdens, that they
were often like a heavy load upon my shoulders, and
kept my mind in a continual state of anxiety, devising
plans for the furtherance of these and other enterprises
of benevolence in which I felt it my duty to engage.
And although I can look back with gratitude upon those
busy days of my life, and, bating my many imperfections,
can praise God for the many tokens of his approbation,
yet I would not be hired for any earthly consideration
to pass through the same scenes, suffer the like anx-
ieties, and perform the same duties. Nevertheless I
cannot but rejoice at beholding the present prosperous
state of the Book Concern and Missionary Society in
X \TITAX BANGS, D.D. 337
general, which T may humbly and gratefully consider
the result of my labors conjointly with my colleagues.
Those who are now in that establishment know but little
from their own experience of the difficulties of former
days, as everything almost was prepared for their hands
before they came there.
"These things, I humbly trust, are not said in a spirit
of vain boasting, but simply as matters of fact. While I
would ascribe honor to God alone for all the good that
has been accomplished, and for giving his people patience
to bear with my many weaknesses, I rejoice for the many
valuable friends he has given me, and for the confi-
dence reposed in me by the Church of my choice. For
all my unfaithfulness, my numerous infirmities and fail-
ures, I ask pardon of God and man ; while I claim for
myself, through the abounding grace of God in Christ
Jesus, purity of motive and uprightness of intention."
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1844.
His name was again first on the list of delegates
from the Xew York Conference to the General Con-
ference of 1844. They were eleven, and included Drs.
Olin, G. Peck, Rice, Reed, Sandford, and other in-
fluential men. The session began in Xew York city on
the first of May, and was the most memorable one since
the organization of the body. It was to be the epoch of
the division of the Church.
Dr. Bangs was now nearly sixty-six year- of age; his
health was broken : but he was as active as ever in the
business of the Conference. In the forty days of the session
the1' it about ten in which his name did not ap-
■ on the record of tin- Journals, and, as usual, mostly
in connection with the great interests of the Church. A;
no form ion had there been abler discussions or
bur even in the absorbing eontrov*
which now issued in the division of the denomination, he
never obtruded a formal Bpeech, or an) remarks requir-
es
338 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ing ten minutes of the time of the Conference. He was
chairman of the Committees on Missions, on the Sabbath,
on the Memoir of Bishop M'Kendree, on the Collection
of Materials for the History of the "Church, (consisting of
one member of each Annual Conference,) and of the Com-
missioners to settle the claims of the southern division of
the denomination on its property. He was a member of
the Committee of Nine to report on the remonstrance of
the southern delegates against the proceedings of the
Conference in the case of Bishop Andrew — of the Com-
mittees on Slavery, on Reporting and Publishing- the
Doings of the Session, on Estimating the Expenses of
Editors and Book Agents, and on a Revised Edition
of the Discipline.
His votes on the slavery questions, which arose in con-
nection with the case of Bishop Andrew, were against
the South, except so far as what he deemed an equitable
division of the denominational property with that por-
tion of the Church should be made in the event of a
formal division of the denomination. He voted also for
the repeal of the Act of the preceding session against
the testimony of colored people in Church trials. It
would be impossible here to narrate adequately the his-
tory of the slavery controversy as it culminated in this
Conference ; it belongs to the history of the Church
rather than to a biographical record, like the present
volume. Dr. Bangs had witnessed the organization of
the first delegated General Conference ; he now saw it
rent asunder, the South from the North. While
maintaining his habitual conservatism, and conceding
every equitable claim of the South, he was equally faith-
ful to his antislavery convictions. "I am as liable," he
wrote soon after the session, " as any man to be led
astray by the influence of strong prejudices,; but such has
been the goodness of God that his grace has kept my mind
in peace amid the war of words, and I have an inward
satisfaction in reflecting on the course I have pursued."
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 339
CONDITION OF THE CHUKCH.
The condition of the denomination, aside from this
conflict, was most gratifying to him. The bishops could
Bay, in their Address to the Conference, that "no period
of onr denominational existence has been more signally
distinguished by great and extensive revivals of religion
and the increase of the Church than the last four years.
Our missions in general are in a prosperous condition, and
some of them have been distinguished by extraordinary
success." The Church comprised more than 1,170,000
members, and more than 4,000 traveling preachers ; it
had gained, since the last General Conference, 430,897
^members and 1,325 preachers, an average of 107,724
members and 331 preachers per year. Thus, in the hour
of its most gigantic strength and capacity for usefulness,
when its arms could be outstretched to the ends of the
world with the blessings of the Gospel of peace, was the
mighty Colossus broken in twain. Both North and South
had shared in the guilty responsibility of slavery; all
parties had grievously erred, in measures, in temper,
and in language ; all were destined to suffer a righteous
retribution. Had the division of the Church, restored its
tranquillity, the disaster, though inexpressibly mournful,
might have been tolerable; but it was followed with ex-
ration and disputes, with "confusion worse con-
founded." The religious, the strongest ties between the
North and South being broken, (for soon the desolat-
fracture rent all the leading denominations of the
land.) the national mind swung loose from it- moor-
. : in a \'vw years war broke out : hundreds of thou-
f lives, hundreds of millions of money were sacri-
ficed; the Republic bowed its head, humiliated t<> the
fore the civilized world. The atrocious pnr]
of founding a nationality on the basis of human slavery
was audaciously announced by the utterly corrupted
nations, jealous of th< ;' the
340 LIFE AND TIMES OF
country, and wishing its overthrow, gave moral support
to the rebellion in spite of their holiest traditions against
slavery, and fear and trembling fell upon all the land
amid the confusion of its counsels and the din of war.
In northern Methodism itself the controversy, taking
new phases, chiefly of an ecclesiastical complexion, entailed
further discords. Dr. Bangs, now venerable with years
and hardly-paralleled services to the Church, became the
victim of severe attacks. He has left in his manuscript
touching reflections on the treatment he had to endure,
especially from the Church paper which he had helped
to found, and of which he was the first official editor,
in which he says he was held up to the ridicule of his
brethren. I forbear to cite these remarks ; they had bet-
ter, with so many other grievances of the times, be com-
mitted to oblivion, or to the historian who, at some fu-
ture and more tranquil period, may be able impartially
to discuss them. This passing allusion must suffice here.
Mourning for the desolations which were coming, more
even than for those which had already come, he retired,
after some unavailing efforts of his pen, more and more
from the raging storm, devoting his attention chiefly to
his own spiritual culture and the moral improvement of
the Church. He hoped that the time for his admission to
that "rest which remaineth for the people of God" was not
very far off, and during the remainder of his life we
shall see him more than ever hiding himself " with Christ
in God," meditating the great themes of spiritual life,
which have been the comfort and strength of saints in
all ages of the Church, and waiting in gracious patience
for his deliverance from the agitations of his times.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 841
CHAPTER XXIII.
MATURE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
I fixd no record, in Dr. Bangs's manuscript, from the
General Conference of 1S44 till May 22, 1847. His au-
tobiographical sketch ceases, in fact, with 1844; the re-
mainder of the manuscript being an occasional journal
noting prominent facts of his inward or outward life at the
times of their occurrence. He has now nearly concluded
that part of his long career which, by its connection with
the marvelous development of his Church, may be called
historic. With the exception of one more General Con-
ference, and one or two more publications, he confines
himself hereafter to the tranquil labors of pastoral life
for a few years, and then to the retirement of a " super-
annuated " veteran. This portion of the record appears
to me, however, to be the richest, the most interesting,
and the most edifying of all his manuscript. The roman-
tic incidents and adventures of his early itinerancy, and
the historic importance of his middle age, have detained
our attention, with no little interest and with a growing
estimation of his character and usefulness, through many
years. If our narrative now becomes less historical, it
becomes more personal and characteristic. Morally he
seems to return to the freshness, the very bloom of youth-
ful life. A cloud of affliction occasionally flits across
the serene sky, but the prospect Bhines brighter and
_hter unto the perfect day. We enter not upon
-y winter of a failing and discontented life, but
this concluding scene opens like the lengthening day and
the increasing brightness of spring-tim* into the
radiant and blooming summer, and ends in the rich fruit-
fulness and beauty of the still genial autumn. Seldom
342 LIFE AND TIMES OF
has there been recorded a more consolatory example of
happiness in old age — a more striking instance of ripen-
ing, mellowing Christian character amid the infirmities
of declining life. The religious earnestness of his former
years rises into an intense joyousness, a saintliness of
faith and charity, a piety which reminds us of the holiest
'Mystics, but exempt from their superstitions and morbid
self-consciousness ; an example, in fine, of that sanctity
of heart and life, that healthful and evangelical mysticism
which distinguished Wesley, Fletcher, and so many of
the early Methodists.
The notes of this journal are abundant, though in-
serted often at considerable intervals. Deeply significant
as expressions of spiritual life, they would yet of course
become monotonous if cited largely. I shall limit myself
therefore to but occasional quotations, passing rapidly
over his remaining years, and giving only such passages
as record actual facts, or present marked phases of his
spiritual experience.
PASTORAL LIFE AGAIN.
t
Under the date of May 22, 1847, he writes : "The
New York Conference of 1846 appointed me to the
Sands-street Church, Brooklyn. The two previous years
I spent at Greene-street Church, New York, where I
labored with much satisfaction to myself, and enjoyed
much communion with God and his people. The affec-
tionate manner in which I was received, and have since
been treated, by the brethren in Sands-street, has both
endeared them to me and rendered my stay with them
delightful, and my labors in and out of the pulpit
pleasant and, I trust, somewhat useful. My health was
never better, and in preaching I have found great en-
largement of heart and liberty of speech, though some-
times cramped from barrenness of mind and want of ready
utterance. This, however, I have had to endure at times
from the beginning of my ministry. It is accompanied
NATHAN BANCS. D.D. 343
with fear rind trembling whenever I stand up to speak,
which makes it exceedingly embarrassing, and often
causes much mortification from the reflection of the im-
perfect manner in which I have performed my duty. Is
this necessary to humble me, 'lest, being lifted up with
pride, I fall into the condemnation of the devil?'
•• October 15, 1848. — Some time in the month of April
last 1 was compelled, from debility, to desist from
preaching. I had attended a protracted meeting for
about three months, during which time I was under con-
tinued excitement, and in one week preached four even-
ings successively, and the succeeding Sabbath three
times, administered the Lord's supper, and held a society
meeting, yet felt no weariness ; but when the meeting
closed a reaction took place in my system, and a throb-
bing in my head, accompanied with dizziness, which ren-
dered it difficult for me to walk without help. This con-
tinued for some time, until I was quite prostrated, and
was confined for most part of the time to my bed. By
the blessing of God, however, on the means used, I so
far recovered as to be able to attend the sessions of the
Xew York Conference. Here an election of delegates
to the Genera] Conference took place, and I was left off
for the first time since 1812, which was the first dele-
gated General Conference ever held. I know the cause
of this treatment. It was occasioned by my opposition
to the coarse pursued by the editor of one of our papers,
for which I rejoice and praise God. I look back upon
what 1 have said and done in these agitations with grat-
itude. I inwardly rejoice that I have been counted wor-
thy of suffering in such a cause. These trials have uever
deprived me of one moment's sleep, nor -oared my spirit,
nor damped my zeal in the cause of < rod.
•• At this Conference I was reappointed to Sands-street,
and my health being extremely feeble, the brethren con-
sented that the bishop should appoint forme an assistant,
so that I might labor only as my strength might permit.
34:4: LIFE AND TIMES OF
This I considered a great favor, for which I felt truly
thankful to God and his people."
The illness under which he suffered was attended with
a throbbing of the left lobe of the brain and general
prostration of his strength. " It was difficult," he says,
"for me to walk in the street, and I seldom attempted
it without some one to assist me. At last any noise,
even of a footstep on the floor of my room, became pain-
ful to me." By careful diet he overcame these symptoms,
but they were the premonitions of a constitutional tend-
ency to cerebral congestion, which was to trouble him
the remainder of his life, but which he controlled by
rigorous temperance and mental tranquilly ' '
At the session of the New York ^Conference for 1848
that body was divided, in accordance with an act of the
General Conference. Notwithstanding its preceding
abridgments by the separation of the Canadas, the in-
terior of New York, and the Troy Conference, its
Churches and ministry had grown so much as to render
their annual Conference business burdensome, if not im-
practicable.
Dr. Bangs was appointed to preach a sermon before
the session on the present division. " I gave a suc-
cinct history of the rise and progress of the Con-
ference from it* beginning, in 1789, to the present time.
This sermon was published at the unanimous request of
the Conference. After its delivery the elders were or-
dained, and the sacrament of the Lord's supper adminis-
tered."
PULPIT EHBAREASSMENT.
In referring to this sermon he makes some interesting
remarks on the exercises of his mind "in the pulpit."
" I was always constitutionally timid, and when I com-
menced preaching it was with much fear and trembling.
This inconvenience, however, gradually subsided, so that
I could generally command myself in the desk. But
345
since my debility, for a long time, whenever I entered
the pulpit, such a tremor came over my whole frame
that 1 could scarcely stand, and hence I generally had a
chair near me, on which I would take hold, and I fre-
quently stood in the altar in preference to the pulpit, as
in that position my nerves were not so much affected.
At the commencement of this discourse before the Con-
ference I felt such a trembling in my whole frame that
I could hardly stand, and as I had the sermon written, I
lown and read it; but before I got through the tre-
mor left me, and I felt at perfect liberty. My soul was
like a * well-watered garden,' and I could rejoice in God
my Saviou"
PBESXDIN e ELDER SA^CTIFICATION.
" I was now appointed presiding elder of the New
York East District, in the eastern division of the Confer-
ence, for which appointment I felt unfeignedly thankful,
as it gave me an opportunity of traveling considerably in
the country, and in some measure relieved me from the
pressure of pastoral duties, though it imposed others of
a higher order. My health was still feeble, and in stand-
ing up to preach my nervous debility was such that it was
with difficulty that I could command myself; but the
Lord blessed me in an unusual degree, and gave me
great enlargement of soul, and much peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost. At times I felt such a Divine power
■ upon me that I was almost overwhelmed. O the
goodness of God my heavenly Father !
"When I went on the district I felt it my duty to
urge upon all, both preachers and people, the necessity
of entire sanctification of soul and body. In explaining
i enforcing this doctrine I enjoyed great enlarge-
ment of heart and much divine consolation, and God has
1 up a number of u itnesses of 1 1 1 « - doctrine.
•■ What added much to my comfort was the cordial
manner in which I was received, and the respect with
346 LIFE AND TIMES OF
which I was treated, both by preachers and people.
They treated me as a father in the Gospel, and sought
in every possible way to make my visits agreeable.
God has, indeed, abundantly blessed me in soul and
body, so much so that my health 'has been so for restored
that I now read, write, preach with as much facility
as ever. I rejoice in all the great things the Lord has
done for me.
"I believe the Lord sanctified my soul about six
months after he justified me ; but I did not always re-
tain an evidence of it, nor live in its enjoyment, though
whenever I recurred to it, either in conversation, prayer,
or preaching, my heart was inflamed with divine love.
About ten years since the Lord pressed upon my heart
the necessity of regaining this inestimable blessing, and
inspired me with an ardent desire and determination to
seek after it until I could say, O Lord thou knowest all
things ; thou knowest that I love thee with all my heart.
He heard my prayer, though the restoration of the bless-
ing was not in the manner in which I first received it ; it
was more gradual, less perceptible, yet equally strong
and permanent. When I compare my present enjoy-
ment, the inward tranquillity which pervades my soul,
with what had been my experience for some years, I see
the difference. I cannot, indeed, describe the peace,
the love, the uninterrupted communion with God, and
the fellowship with all God's people which I now daily
enjoy.
"I would not say that I have such a happiness as ex-
cludes all temptations, trials, and afflictions. By no
means. If Christ, who was ' holy, harmless, separate
from sin,' was 'tempted on all points, like as we are,'
surely we cannot expect to be exempt from temptations,
much less from those afflictions which are inseparable from
humanity. In addition to these, we have to contend
with the infirmities which arise from the imperfection
of our judgment and our inability always to distinguish
NATHAN BANCS, D.D. 347
between truth and error. All these things are sources of
trial. But • all things,' aU things — good and bad, little
and great, blessings from God or curses from men —
* shall work together for good to them that love God.'
"The firm belief of this truth has been a never-failing
source of consolation to my soul even in seasons of
severe trial and in times of heavy affliction, whether of
body or mind, and sometimes when both together have
pressed upon me. In such seasons that gracious promise
has been presented so vividly to my faith, that instantly
the clouds have dispersed, and the sun of righteousness
has shone upon me with such brightness as to dispel all
doubt and fear. At other times, though the load has
not been immediately removed, yet hope has sustained
me ; I have been enabled to hold fast until God
appeared for my deliverance. ' I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee,' is a promise which every faithful soul
may claim for himself, under every trial through which
he may be called to pass, however severe it may be.
u April 18, 1850. — I humbly adore the God of love for
his goodness to me. 31 y health has been so fully re-
stored that I am able to preach with earlier strength,
and my soul is strong in the ' Lord of hosts, and in the
power of his might.' In the latter part of the past win-
ter I attended a protracted meeting at Mamaroneck for
two weeks, during which I preached thirteen sermons,
and attended three general class-meetings, besides the
prayer-meetings after the sermons. These were seasons
of much spiritual comfort.*'
By a happy coincidence he fount! his old fellow-laborer
in Canada. his own father in the Gospel, Joseph Sawyer,
living in ertn _ and comfortable retirement in this
itit'til town, and very touching and consoling H
their in They worshiped together, a- of old,
in the temp!»- of God, and recalled, in the converse of the
social circles of the place, the battles and victories of
their old frontier fields.
348 LIFE AND TIMES OF
While in this village he was entertained at the hospit-
able home of Mr. Halsted. At the breakfast table on Sun-
day morning each of the company repeated a passage from
the Holy Scriptures, after which, at Dr. Bangs's instance,
they cited each a stanza from the Church Hymn Book.
When it was his turn to quote one he repeated the
words,
u Jesus, thy boundless love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue declare ;
0 knit my thankful heart to thee,
And reign without a rival there:
Thine wholly, thine alone, I am ;
Be thou alone my constant flame."
His face became radiant, his utterance broken with
emotion; ua halo of Divine glory'1 seemed to surround
the circle, as he afterward said ; he " could neither speak
nor eat," but retired from the table rehearsing the words
of the poet :
"A solemn reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues."
A love-feast and the Lord's supper were held that day
in the village Church. In giving out the first hymn at
the former " I was so overwhelmed with a sense of
the presence of God," he says, " that it was with the
utmost difficulty I could read, and when we kneeled
in prayer I could utter but a word or two. I called on
my old friend, Mr. Sawyer, to pray, which he did. I
then endeavored to relate my experience of the goodness
of God ; a powerful emotion ran over the assembly, and
we had a time of ' refreshing from the presence of the
Lord.' We had, indeed, one of the most joyful seasons
I have seen and felt for a long time. O what a sweet
and indescribable union I felt with God's own people,
and more especially with those who enjoyed the sancti-
fying influence of the Holy Spirit ! The world may call
NATHAN BANCS, D.D. 349
this foolishness or enthusiasm; but I call it the holy com-
munion of saints, the 'fellowship of kindred spirits.'
" I often wonder, in view of my past unfaithfulness
and present un worthiness, how it is that God condescends
to blesa me bo abundantly ! The explanation is found in
the language of St. John, 'God is love,' otherwise ex-
I by the psalmist, ' For he is good; for his mercy
endureth forever;' therefore we are called upon to 'give
thanks unto his name.1 And surely, of all beings upon
the earth, I have the greatest reason to praise him, and
give thanks to his name. The methods he has taken to
save me by leading me in a way I had not known, by
subduing my will, by disappointing me in my early expect-
ations, mortifying my natural ambition, and by sending
his Holy Spirit to seek me in the wilderness, and finally
by Bhedding abroad his love in my heart, saving me from
sin, delivering me in the hour of temptation, and giving
me favor in the eyes of his people, are all instances of
his loving-kindness. He keeps me in perfect peace. To
God be all the glory for every blessing I enjoy !"
It was about this time that he wrote for the Christian
Advocate the articles which afterward composed his
volume on " The Present State, Prospects, etc., of the
Methodist Episcopal Church." They glowed with the
freshness and hopefulness of his present fervent spirit
of piety. Tracing the extraordinary progress of the
Church, not only in its numerical growth, but in its* prac-
tical Bchemes of charity and evangelization, and the
ling revivals of pure religion in many parts of the
world, be concludes that Christianity never had better
In his journal he refers t<> doubts expi
me of his friends respecting bis sanguine views.
• I know that Borne of my brethren differ from
t to tin- present pure and undefiled
i;bo1 [ am fully convinced, rrom as impartial a sur-
bat there never ha
d, bo much
350 LIFE AND TIMES OF
pure religion in the world as there is at the present time ;
and surely the world was never in such a favorable
condition for the spread of the Gospel. This, I think, I
have abundantly proved in the articles to which I have
referred.
" May 2. — This is my birthday. I have lived sev-
enty-two years a monument of God's mercy. I de-
sire to record my gratitude to him for all the way in
which he has led me, for lifting up my head in the hour
of affliction, for strengthening my heart in the time of
weakness, for supplying my wants in the time of need,
and for permitting me to live so many years. O that
the remainder of my days may be exclusively devoted to
him! I think I can adopt the language of the poet :
' Now, my God, thine own I am ;
Now I give thee back thine own;
Freedom, friends, and health, and fame,
I consecrate to thee alone 1
Thine I live, thrice happy I !
Happier still if thine I die.'
MRS. PALMER
" Mai/ 3. — I have just returned from Carbondale, Pa.,
where I was invited to dedicate a church to the service
of Almighty God. I was accompanied by Mrs. Palmer,
who was also invited by the brethren, with whom she
had some time last year formed an acquaintance, and
had been made instrumental of promoting the work of
God among them. And here I feel it a duty to record
my belief in the deep devotion and the intrinsic useful-
ness of this Christian woman. The prejudices which
have existed against her have arisen chiefly from mis-
apprehension of her opinions. I have known her from
her childhood, for she was a member of my catechetical
class in 1817, when she was only eight or nine years of
age. She was made a partaker of pardoning mercy at
an earlv age, married soon after, and lived a pious and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 351
blameless life lor several years, when (about thirteen
years since) she waa enabled to rejoice in God's sanctifying
. . She felt it her duty, as every devoted Christian
ought and, I cannot doubt, does feel it to be, to strive
in every scriptural way to promote this unspeakable
blessing among her fellow-Christians, and she has been
remarkably successful. Many have been raised up under
her teachings and prayers as witnesses of the saving
efficacy of Christ's blood and righteousness to save
them from all sin. And why should any one oppose
another*, even though a female, so eminently owned by
the Head of the Church in the conversion of sinners and
in the sanctiheation of believers ? For my part I dare
not. I cannot but rejoice in whatever instrumentality
God shall use for the salvation of souls. And I have
abundant reason to believe that this devoted woman has
been thus used of God as an instrument of good to
others. ss the happy art of winning their
confidence, and of pointing them directly to the Lord
- - for life and salvation.
Some object to her phi . I do not pledge
myself to the correctness of every word she may utter
any more than I can expect every other person to agree
with me in all my words and phrases. But why should I
mte about words so long as the substance is retained ?
I care not by what name this great blessing be desig-
nated, whether holiness, sanctih'cation. perfect love, Chris-
tian perfection, so long as is meant by it an entire con-
ration of soul and body to God, accompanied with
faith that he accepts the sacrifice through the merit*
I
erolar usefulness of this "elect lady." in both
America and I by both her writings and her pen
al communications t<» the Churches, Dr. Bangs deemed it
luty to recognize; he pronounced her teachings sub-
stantially orthodox and Wesleyan, and in this opii
lie had the i i -r- of 1: I f mind-
352 LIFE AND TIMES OF
esteemed her as a commendable follower of the " holy-
women " — Mary Fletcher, Hester Ann Rogers, Ann Cut-
ler, Ladies Maxwell and Fitzgerald — who gathered about
Wesley as his correspondents and helpers in the Gospel ;
and with St. Paul did he say to the Churches, " I com-
mend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of
the Church: . . . that ye receive her in the Lord, as
becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever
business she hath need of you : for she hath been a suc-
corer of many, and of myself also." Providentially
placed in circumstances, pecuniary and domestic, which
have allowed of the devotion of her time to religious
labors, she has served the Church with a diligence and
success which should be imitated rather than criticised.
Her house in New York has been for years a sanctuary,
where not only such men as Olin, Hamline, and Bangs
have found hospitable shelter and taken sweet counsel
together in the deep things of God, but where thousands
of earnest minds from all parts of the land have sought
and found guidance and consolation. It may indeed be
doubted whether any one occasion of social devotion in
the great city has, in the last twenty years, had a more
profound and wider influence in favor of the special doc-
trines of Christian experience, as taught by Methodism,
than the crowded weekly assemblies at her home. At
no place have those doctrines been more thoroughly and
devoutly discussed; and in these discussions representa-
tives, clerical and lay, of nearly all evangelical Churches,
have delighted to share. For years Dr. Bangs acted as
the virtual president of these meetings, communicating
to them the matured wisdom and receiving through them
the richest consolations of his Christian experience. He
incessantly recurs to them with delight in his journals.
The abuse which fanatical or indiscreet minds have occa-
sionally made of the doctrine of sanctification; their per-
verted or cantish phraseology, or monomaniacal absorp-
tion in the theme, no man regretted more than he; but
N \THAN BANGS, D.D. 358
he xi w that such perversions are made of the doctrine
of justification itself, of all important doctrines ; and he
deeply mourned that intelligent Christians and pastors
should rind in the infirmities of their neighbors apologies
for their neglect of, if not opposition to, a truth so pro-
foundly important ; a truth which, according to the earliest
and l>c>t lights of their Church, is fundamental in Meth-
odism, and expressly enjoined in the ordination vows of
its ministry.
23
354 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXIV.
HE EEVISITS CANADA.
Dr. Ba*stgs was not elected to the General Conference
of 1848, as we have seen. But that body honored him
with an appointment, as its representative to the Wes-
leyan Canada Conference. He was again to enter the
scene of his early itinerant struggles and triumphs. The
interest of the visit was greatly enhanced by the fact
that his early fellow-laborer in that distant field, Joseph
Sawyer, now about eighty years old, accompanied him.
A half a century had passed since Sawyer received him
into the Church and called him out to the itinerancy.
The two veterans, who had traveled the frontier wilder-
ness in the vigor of their youth, now returned leaning
upon their staves, their "hoary heads" wearing that
"crown of glory" with which old age circles the brows
of those who are "found in the ways of righteousness."
They set out from the city of New York on the 2d of
June, 1850. "What a contrast," wrote Dr. Bangs, "in
the mode of traveling since Fulton introduced the use of
steam to propel boats through the water! In 1804 I
was four days in sailing from Rhinebeck to New York,
eighty miles. Now we sailed from New York to Albany,
twice the distance, in about ten hours! And then the
accommodations ! Formerly we were pent up in a small
cabin, in which there was scarcely room to stand erect,
and so closely confined at night that one almost suffo-
cated with heat and the confined foul atmosphere. Now
we can sit in the sumptuously furnished saloon, or prom-
enade the upper deck, sheltered from the scorching sun
by a tight roof with open ends and sides which permit
NATHAN BANGS, D.l). 355
a free circulation of the air, and we can, at the Bame
time, enjoy a view of the beautiful, and sometimes mag-
nificent scenery, particularly while passing through the
high-lands of the banks of the Hudson River. The day
was clear and bright, the atmosphere soft and bland, the
company polite and agreeable, and my heart expanded
while my eyes beheld God's magnificent work, and
glowed with gratitude to him for the rich displays of
his power, wisdom, and goodness, which were exhibited
all around us ; and more especially for the wonders of
redeeming love in the gift of Jesus Christ, through
whose death and continual intercession we are made par-
takers of all these blessings. I could not refrain, indeed,
from adoring him. Thanks be to the 'Author of every
good and perfect gift,' for steamboats, the telegraph,
and for railroads, as well as for every other improve-
ment of the age in which Ave have the happiness to live !
"Finally we landed safely at Brockville, and were
met on the quay by several of the preachers, who were
expecting us, and were conducted to our lodgings in the
hospitable mansion of Mr. Flint, a wealthy brother in
the Church in that place, of whose hospitality we par-
took while we remained at the seat of the Conference.
"We were soon visited by others, and among them was my
beloved brother, the Rev. William Case, formerly, when
traveling in Canada, my colleague and companion in
labor and suffering in the cause of God. Our meeting,
after years of separation, was mutually gratifying, and
passed a few moments in recounting the goodness of
God in days gone by, and expressions of gratitude to
him for permitting us to see each other once more in the
land of the iiving.
GREAT CIIANGE8.
"When I first visited Canada, in 1799, we lay five
nights in the woods in traveling through the country to
Buffalo ; and when we arrived at that place there were
356 LIFE AND TIMES OF
only two or three miserable log-huts, in which some
very poor people lived, or rather burrowed, for they
seemed to live almost under ground. Now, in traveling
from New York to Brockville, a distance of not less than
five hundred miles, we performed the tour in about thirty-
one hours, traveling time ; or in three days, including
two nights, one at Albany, and another at Oswego, and
the five hours we were detained at Syracuse.
" Since that time cities, Adllages, and cultivated farms,
canals and railroads, have come into existence in those
parts of the country which were then covered with a
dense forest. Even in Brockville, when I traveled in this
country in 1805, there was not a single house, and it was
an entire wilderness. Now there is a village of between
three and four thousand inhabitants, built up with large
substantial stone houses and stores, and everything appears
in a flourishing state. Religion, pure and undefiled, has
kept pace with the progress of the settlements on both
sides of the line which divides Canada from the United
States." •
SCENES IN THE CONFERENCE.
On Thursday they were conducted by Mr. Case to the
Conference. As they entered the church the whole as-
sembly rose, greeting them while they passed up the
aisle. Their aged conductor presented them with much
emotion to the president, Dr. Richey, who, taking the
hand of Dr. Bangs, introduced them to the Conference
with an address of welcome. Dr. Bangs followed with
a speech, which produced a profound impression. It was
some time before he could command his own feelings
enough to proceed with it, and when he sat down, " over-
whelmed," he says, " with a sense of the goodness of
God and the love of the brethren," the Conference re-
sponded with universal cheers.
" After taking my seat," he writes, " I looked around
to see how many I could recognize as 'known by me in
NATHAN BANGS, I).D. 357
former days. T could sec but five or six, namely, William
Case, Anson Green, William, John, and Egerton Ryer-
son — all brothers — and Robert Corson ; all the rest had
been raised ap since my Canadian days. Death had
thinned the ranks of these veterans of the cross. I was
reminded more forcibly than ever of the mutability of all
terrestrial things, and that my own earthly race must
Boon end. Be it so, I thought; when my heavenly Fa-
ther shall have served himself with me, according to his
own u'.H.d pleasure, he will sign my release, and discharge
me from service, so that I may ' enter into the joy of my
Lord.' "
Hi- address contained some striking allusions to his
early life in Canada. He said :
M You will excuse me, sir, if I advert to a few items
in my personal history in relation to the commencement
and pr< _ 38 of Methodism in this country. This was
my spiritual birthplace. It was here that I commenced
my ministry a little over forty-nine years since, under
the fostering care of my venerable father in the Gospel,
the Rev. Joseph Sawyer, who is now present with us,
and who lives in a green old age to adorn that Gospel
which he has preached for upward of fifty-three years.
I remember well the time and the circumstances under
which I commenced my feeble labors, and the trials
through which I passed in those days of my childhood,
when the woodman's ax and the preacher's voice were
I almost simultaneously : when tin- hardy pioneer of
dism followed the immigrant ; carried provepder
on his horse, tied him to a sapling in the night, because
there was neither a barn to shelter him nor a pasture to
feed him ; when we used to eat, preach, and Bleep in the
same room in the log-hut of tie- settler; when :'t other
Tim.- we held our meetings in tin- groves, in bam-. or
log school-houses, and slept under the foliage of the
ight overtook as in our travels through the
wildern(
358 LIFE AND TIMES OF
" At that time the Methodists did not amount to much
over 200,000, all told, in Europe and America. Now
they number, including those who have seceded from us,
but still hold fast our cardinal doctrines, nearly 2,000,000,
besides the millions who have already gone to glory.
At that time there were only about 1,200 in Canada.
Now there are about 25,000 belonging to your body, ex-
clusive of those who have seceded from you. And all
this has been accomplished in about fifty years. Have we
not abundant cause of gratitude to God for his abound-
ing grace toward us as a people ?
" When I commenced my ministry I was in my twenty-
fourth year. I have now just entered my seventy-third
year. It will, therefore, be forty-nine years next Septem-
ber since I entered the itinerancy, under the presiding
eldership of the Rev. Joseph Jewell, and as a colleague
with my esteemed father in the Gospel, Rev. Joseph Saw-
yer, on the Niagara Circuit; and in the mouth of Decem-
ber of the same year I was sent to form a new circuit on
what was then called Long Point, including Burford, Ox-
ford, and several other neighboring towns and settle-
ments. Here God gave me manifest tokens of his approba-
tion by the conversion of a number of sinners as seals to
my ministry.
" How has God enlarged our borders since that time !
There were then only about 73,000 in the United States.
Now, including the North and the South — lam mortified
to be compelled to make this distinction, as indicating
two separate branches of the same Church — there are
upward of 1,000,000; and, as before said, throughout
the world there are nearly 2,000,000.
" And what more shall I say ? Will you allow me, sir,
to add a few words of admonition and advice ? If we
would secure the continuance of God's blessing — the
blessing which he bestowed upon our fathers in the Gos-
pel— we must imitate their spirit and practice. What
was that spirit ? They were deeply imbued with the
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 359
spirit of Christ. They commenced with the spirit of re-
vival. Methodism was begotten, fostered, and grew up
under the influence of the spirit of revival. If, therefore,
we would perpetuate its prosperity, we must cultivate
this same spirit, aiming to promote it by every possible
means, urging ourselves on, and pressing our people for-
ward after entire sanctification of soul and body to God.
This doctrine of entire sanctification was that which,
above all others, distinguished Wesley among his com-
peers in the ministry, and has been the distinguishing
characteristic of Methodism from his to our day. If we
would, therefore, have the mantles of Wesley, of Asbury,
and of the many other fathers in our Israel, who have
been carried in chariots of fire to heaven, fall on us, we
must make their motto ours, namely, Holiness to the
Lord."
By request of the president of the Conference he ad-
dressed its candidates in a public assembly, giving chiefly
a narrative of his early struggles and successes in their
now flourishing fields of labor. Of course the dream of
the shivered rock was not omitted. He concluded by
saying : " Now, my young brethren, all you have to do
is to smite the rock. It is God's work to split it. All
you have to do is to preach the word, and attend to the
other duties of your office. It is God's work to bless the
labor of your hearts and hands* and to give effect to
your well-meant efforts. Go on, then, in the name of
your Divine Master, and he will be with you ' always,
even to the end of the world.' "
An afternoon Bession was devoted to ''conversation on
the be-t method of promoting the work of God, and in
relating religions experience. This was truly a spiritual
i, a 'feast of marrow and fat things, of wine on the
• pyer and myself took part in this exercise,
in which i* :' the preachers participated with ap-
parent delight I cannot but think that this mingling of
age of the knowledge of expcii-
360 LIFE AND TIMES OF
mental religion, with the regular routine of Conference
business, by breaking in upon the dull monotony of dry
discussions and formal voting — such discussions and
voting as necessarily arise out of the questions which
must be disposed of in the course of things — has a tend-
ency to relieve the mind of some of its burdens, to.
soften those little asperities which are sometimes excited
in the conflict of opinions, and, finally, to promote broth-
erly love and Christian harmony."
Sunday was a great day with the community as well
as the Conference. There were four sermons preached,
besides the love-feast, the sacrament of the Eucharist,
and the ordination of preachers. Dr. Bangs preached at
the latter service a discourse of remarkable power and
effect, on Rom. x, 14, 15. At the conclusion of the ser-
mon fifteen candidates were ordained to the " office and
work of the ministry."
The next day he visited the town where he had married
his wife, and was received by the remnants of the house-
hold. He preached in the village. "Here, again," he
writes, " I was forcibly reminded of the ravages which
death makes in the ranks of the living. Most of the old
people whom I knew in former days were dead, but their
children had grown to manhood and womanhood, and
some of them came to me, took me by the hand, and re-
minded me that they knew me when I was at their fa-
ther's house, or they had heard me preach in the neigh-
borhood."
HIS RETURN.
He assisted at the missionary anniversary of the
Conference, and departed June 12, refreshed by the
interview, and leaving a grateful impression upon the
minds of the ministerial brethren who were now the
prosperous successors of the little band of pioneers which,
with his co-operation, had opened the way for them in
these thriving regions. On his return he paused at
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 361
Toronto, and wrote: "We put up with Dr. Ryerson,
whose excellent Lady received us with Christian courtesy.
Here, also, L met with an old acquaintance, the mother
of Mrs. Ryerson, whom I knew before she was married,
in L802, and her excellent husband, with whom I formed
an acquaintance in L824, and we were mutually refreshed
in each other's society. What a change has been effected
in this place! I believe I was the first Methodist
preacher that ever attempted to preach in Little York —
as Toronto was then called — and I preached in a misera-
ble half-finished house, on a week evening, to a few peo-
ple, for there were not over a dozen houses in the place,
and slept on the floor under a blanket. This was in
1801. I was then attempting to form a circuit on Yonge-
street, a settlement west of Toronto, and I was induced
to make a trial in this new little village, the settlers of
which were as thoughtless and wicked as the Canaanites
of old. Now there is a city of between 25,000 and
30,000 inhabitants, and it is the seat of government, of a
university, and of several houses of worship, and the
Methodists have their full share of religious influence,
having their Book Concern established here, and like-
wise the 'Christian Guardian,' a weekly paper which is
exerting a hallowed influence on the community through-
out the province. In this city there are four stationed
preacher.-, who have the charge, according to the Min-
utes for 1849, of 703 Church-members, and I supp
they minister to more than twice that number of hearers.
In addition to these ministers, the Hook Steward, the
editor of the Christian Guardian, and the Rev. Dr.
Uycr-.. ii, the superintendent of Bchools, a government
otlicrr. reside here, and preach as often as their other
engagements will permit, and of course exerl a favorable
influence on the interests of religion. Indeed, Methodism
in this country exert- a preponderating power on the
population generally, as it i> the most numerous sect in
the provii
362 LIFE AND TIMES OF
He reached New York on the 28th, " praising God for
all the manifestations of his loving-kindness toward us
and our friends. I humbly trust this visit has had its
use, if to no one else, to myself, in calling forth my grat-
itude to him for all the good that he has done and is
still doing for the people in Canada."
THE FEAR OF DEATH CONQUERED.
He resumed his labors as presiding elder, but not
without admonitions of the decay of his constitution.
"I have been," he writes, "three or four times, within
about a month of each other, suddenly deprived of recol-
lection and almost of consciousness, the attacks lasting, I
am told, from five to ten minutes. The last came upon me
while preaching on Saturday at the Quarterly Meeting at
Roxbury, by which the sermon was suspended ; and when
I came to myself I found a brother speaking to the people.
At first I did not know who he was, nor where I was ;
but my recollection returned, and I was able to transact
the business of the Quarterly Meeting Conference without
difficulty, and likewise on Sunday morning to attend the
love-feast, preach with my usual liberty, and administer
the sacrament of the Lord's supper. During these times
I feel no pain, and if God should take me away in one
of these paroxysms, I should, I think, glide easily and
swiftly into eternity, and be forever at rest. I thank
God they give me no trouble or anxiety.
" Sept. 16. — I can now look upon death with pleasure,
though I have been habitually in bondage to it most of
my life, from, I suppose, a constitutional cause in part.
I was told in early life that some time before my birth
my mother went to visit a sick friend, but on entering
the room found the person dead. The unexpected sight
struck her with terror, so !hat she nearly swooned away.
When I was born I was as white as a corpse, my hair
was as white as snow, and remained so until after I grew
to manhood, and my countenance presented a blanched
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 363
appearance also even until I was over twenty years of
age. I was moreover always afraid of death, could not
bear to look upon a dead body, and this fear continued
with me even after I experienced religion, a fact which
sometimes gave me much trouble, though whenever I
thought of its cause I could account for it without at-
tributing it to a lack of faith ; for when I looked beyond
the grave I could rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
It was simply in the contemplation of death, viewed as
a mortal dissolution, that it appeared so appalling. I
have often prayed to be delivered from this slavish fear,
and I thank God that he has heard my prayer."
HIS CATHOLICITY.
With his maturing piety a catholic sentiment of fel-
lowship with other Christian denominations than his
own became more habitual and ardent with him. At a
meeting of the Council of the Christian Alliance, while
the city pastors were responding to the inquiry how far
they had promoted the objects of the society in their pul-
pits, he replied: "I have preached on the subject of love
and union among Christians with great satisfaction, as
this is a theme upon which I delight to dwell. I have
indeed been a man of war all my days — have fought the
Calvinists, the Protestant Episcopalians, and others, or
rather have defended the Methodists when they have
been assailed by those denominations, and I cannot re-
pent of what I have thus done, as I have acted in the
fear of God, and have nol willfully defended an error,
however much I may have erred in judgment uncon-
rasly. I have, however, long since laid aside my
emicaJ armor, and now delighl chiefly in proclaiming
brotherly love.*1 When he Ba1 down a member of the
- and said : MGlafl am T to hear my brother
Bangs speak as he has. I too have been a man of war.
I have fought him and he has fought me, but now I
like giving him my hand," and reaching out his hand
364 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Dr. Bangs grasped it heartily. " We had," he writes,
"a time of rejoicing together."
This sympathetic communion with saints grew into an
inexpressibly tender affectionateness toward all who love
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. " I find uniformly
that in the same proportion as the love of God increases
in my heart my love to the brethren increases, and I feel
such a union of spirit with them as I cannot describe.
This sacred union is known by communing with them in
conversation, in prayer, and in interchange of friendly
association, by which my spirit is drawn toward them
in an irresistible manner ; and I cannot but think that
among holy souls there is an intuitive, a mystical reunion
of spirit with spirit which binds them together in kin-
dred feelings far surpassing all the fellowship founded in
worldly ties, or even in natural relationship. I feel this
now in an unusual degree toward my Christian friends,
though not one of them is present with me ; many, of
whom I think, are hundreds of miles absent, yet my spirit
communes with them, and joyfully anticipates the day
when we shall unitedly and with joyful hearts bow
around the throne of God together, and in a sacred
harmony celebrate the praise of Him who hath 'washed
us in his blood and made us kings and priests unto God
forever !' O my most merciful God, may it be so !" He
was at times apprehensive that he was " guilty of a
species of idolatry in loving some of his friends too
much." " They cling about my heart and, perhaps, usurp
too much the place in my affections which belongs only
to God. Our God is a jealous God."
HIS LOVE OF NATUKE.
With these ardent affections, apparently freshened
rather than abated in his old age, his enjoyment of natu-
ral scenery seemed also to be renewed. His journals
abound in picturesque descriptions of the finer landscapes
that adorn portions of his District, especially along the
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 365
const of Long Island Sound. In the spring of this year
be writes that, "returning from a quarterly meeting at
East Chester, I could not but be delighted with the
beautiful landscapes along a portion of my route. Some
of the fruit-trees are in blossom, the forest trees arc
bursting into foliage, the meadows are carpeted with
green and decked with the earliest flowers, the streams
sing along their courses, and the rays of the sun stream
through a transparent atmosphere; all presents a scene of
surpassing beauty on which my eye gazed with exquisite
delight, and I exclaimed, ' These are thy glorious works,
Parent of good !' ' Thou hast stretched out the north
over the empty place, and hung the earth upon nothing!
Thou hast not only made all things for the use of man,
but hast adorned the works of thy hands with beauty for
the gratification of his senses, that he may be filled with
delight before thee.' " He draws an inference which
once might have seemed questionable to some of his
stricter Methodist brethren. "While observing the
flowers and blossoms I asked myself, Why is it that the
Almighty Maker has expended so much skill in merely
beautifying things, and things so evanescent as the flow-
ers, which spring up in the morning and perish at even-
ing ? Surely beauty cannot be displeasing to him ; and
hence I infer that it cannot be wrong to adorn and beau-
tify our persons and homes." But he gives the legiti-
mate inference its necessary qualification. " Nature
herself is a safe example; everything is befitting, all
rightly proportioned, all simple and yet perfect. How
different the fashionable displays of men and women !
Simplicity and modesty in dress are its best beauty."
PHYSICAL HEALTH AND HABITS.
By adopting a vegetable diet he found his health
greatly improved. Notwithstanding his advancing age,
- of faintness or unconsciousness became much
less frequent, and his mental animation much greater.
366 LIFE AND TIMES OF
" I can," he writes, " think, read, pray, and preach with
much more freedom than formerly. O the goodness of
God to me!" He was also careful in all his other phys-
ical habits. " I find it essential to my health," he says,
" as well as beneficial to my spirits, to take as much ex-
ercise in the open air, in walking and riding, as I possibly
can. Hence, whenever I find my spirits flagging I lay
down my pen or book and take a walk, by which my
mind becomes buoyant, and I can then apply myself to
mental labor with renewed vigor and satisfaction. I
have also been in the habit, for thirty years, of bathing
myself, whenever convenient, every morning, summer
and winter, in cold water, which I do, when I have no
bath, by rubbing my body from head to foot with a wet
towel and then with a dry one till I am warm, after
which I usually expose myself to the open air. I find
these means exceedingly refreshing to both body and
mind. But while they tend to invigorate the physical
and mental man, the love of God filling the heart gives
me a tranquillity and comfort far surpassing human lan-
guage to express. Glory be to God!"
XATHAX BANGS, D.D. 367
CHAPTER XXV.
THE GARRETTSON HOMESTEAD.
While prosecuting his duties as presiding elder be
made occasional excursions for his health and the renewal
of old Christian ties. In June, 1851, he revisited the
Garrettson homestead at Rhinebeck, the scene of early
and endeared reminiscences. " My old friend Freeborn
Garrettson has been dead," he writes, " about twenty-
four years, and his sainted widow took her departure to
the world of bliss about two years ago, in her ninety-
sixth year. I found their only daughter maintaining the
original Christian hospitality of the house, surrounded
by pious domestics and every comfort, and having every-
thing in the exactest order within and without the dwell-
ing. Here was the identical old arm-chair in which my
venerated friend used to sit while conversing with us ;
the same table, around which we used to talk and eat, still
stands in its old place in the middle of the room ; and the
same old ?ettee remains in its place at one end of the
veranda, where we used to sit and gaze, with delighted
over the lawn, and down upon the scenery of the
■u. With these mementos I could but recall to mind
the memories of other days, in which I spent so many
happy hours with that patriarchal man, his sainted wife,
and their intelligent, pious, and animated daughter. But
alas for the inroads of death! Yet I thought their spirits
still linger about the place. From twenty to forty year*
ago I was on terms of closest intimacy with this family ••
how precious are yet the recollections of my frequent
* Hia own family resided in Khinebeck when he had charge of the
" old Rhinebeck District "
368 LIFE AND TIMES OF
visits, our converse on the veranda, our walks on the
lawn or in the,gardens, our pleasant hours on the benches
under the trees, commanding the prospects of the river !
My old, friends are gone, but the beautiful scenery re-
mains, and their spirit still lives in the daughter, who
kindly cheered my heart with her Christian fellowship
and the old hospitality of the house. The mansion is un-
altered, except the addition of a library room and some
other small improvements ; the old garden in front of
the house is gone, changed into a beautiful lawn, gently
sloping toward the river. I thanked God for permitting
me once more to visit this place, endeared by so many
pleasing recollections.
SUXSHIXE ON THE DECLINE OF LIFE.
'-'•June 24. — I attended the meeting at Mrs. Palmer's.
I have attended it for some years, and find it to be
among my best means of grace. It is sad that these
useful assemblies, doing so much for the promotion of
holiness, should be opposed by some of our people. The
experiences which I have heard there are generally sound
and scriptural, well suited to promote experimental and
practical godliness."
'•'•August 4. — Last Saturday and Sabbath I attended a
Quarterly Meeting at East Chester. O howpowerfully
present was the Lord, both in the love-feast and in preach-
ing, particularly on the Sabbath! In the love-feast I
endeavored to explain how, from the omnipresence of
God, he is with us in every place, and therefore must
be among his people always, to sustain and com-
fort them. While speaking the Lord filled my heart
with his love, and put words and arguments into my
mouth of which I had not thought before, and they ap-
peared to go like fire through the assembly. It was a
time of refreshing from the presence of God. While
preaching my heart expanded with enlarged views of the
goodness of God, and my tongue was unloosed to speak,
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 369
I cannot but believe, ' in the Holy Ghost with much as-
surance." 0 how good is the Lord to me ! When I
look back upon my life and see how very little I have
done for him I wonder at his mercy in sparing me, and
so abundantly blessing me ; and such a view have I of
odness that I feel sometimes a wish that I was
young again that I might devote myself more ardently
to his service in proclaiming his loving-kindness unto the
children of men. A vain wish ! I must be content to
hobble along under my infirmities, and fill up my few
remaining davs as I mav, allowing no moments to run
to waste; and I do praise God most sincerely for the
many, very many, tokens of his mercy toward me in
my declining life. He gives me friends everywhere, who
treat me with love and great respect ; and I meet with
one and another who tell me how often they have been
blessed under my ministry, for which I praise God from
my inmost heart. May I meet them in another world,
a world of unending bliss !'*
PRESIDENT OLIX.
"August 20. — Yesterday I returned from attending
the funeral of Dr. Olin, President of the Wesleyan Uni-
versity, at Middletown, Conn. He died on Saturday
about six o'clock A. M., in the fifty-fifth year of his age.
Surely a great and good man has fallen in our Israel !
He had a collegiate education, was soundly converted to
vhen about twenty years of age, soon entered the
ministry, and gave evidence of a warm heart, and of a
ml and comprehensive mind. I have been inti-
mately acquainted with him for upward of twenty years,
and in all my intercourse with him have I ever found him
a warm and affectionate friend, and though possessing a
giant intellect, he manifested the simplicity of a child and
the humility of a true disciple of Jesus Christ lli>
spirit was tnd affectionate in an eminent di
I lovel him as a Christian brother, venerated hi:
370 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Christian minister, and admired him as a powerful writer.
In preaching he laid hold on the grandest truths, and was
exceedingly powerful. We have not his fellow remain-
ing. How mysterious the providence of God, that such
a man should be taken away in the very zenith of his
usefulness, while so many of us are left so long with our
inferior powers ! I returned in time to attend the meet-
ing at Mrs. Palmer's, and there, beneath the roof where
he was so often sheltered, related the scenes of his death
and funeral. Sensations of the love of God pervaded
my heart as I spoke of his goodness to his servant and
to me. O my soul, praise the Lord for his redeeming
love ! I cannot describe what I then felt, and still feel, of
the love of God. It is indeed ' unspeakable and full of
glory.'
'"Our brother the haven hath gained,
Outflying the tempest and wind ;
His rest he hath sooner obtained,
And left his companions behind,
Still toss'd on a sea of distress,
Hard toiling to make the blest shore,
Where all is assurance and peace,
And sorrow and sin are no more.'
" I know not what God may have in store for me in
this world, whether I may be spared for some few years,
or whether I am to die shortly ; nor does it give me any
trouble, for I feel as if I were fully prepared either to
live or to die. Such is the amazing mercy of God in
Christ Jesus toward me, a sinner saved by grace !"
Such rapturous expressions have now become the ha-
bitual language of his journal. He has got high up the
acclivities of the mount of vision and sees all things
below, even in " the valley and shadow of death," by the
reflected light of its glory. But he is still in his proba-
tion and needs its occasional tests.
" Sept. 5. — Though my confidence in God is unshaken,
and my peace uninterrupted, yet my heart has been bur-
NATHAN BANGS, D.I). 371
dened with a load that I cannot easily shake off. No
one but he who has experience of it can comprehend the
otherwise' dee}) mystery of how the mind, while staid on
God and kept in perfect peace, can nevertheless be har-
1 with eruel temptations, the heart torn and lacer-
ated with sorrow of an indescribable character. Yet so
it is with me at present. All this God sees necessary for
my good or he would not •permit it to come upon me,
and I have no doubt that he will bring me through the
fire without hurt.
" Sept. G. — After writing the above, yesterday morning,
I went in the evening to hear a sermon. It was on the
peace of God, and while listening the clouds gradually
dispersed from my mind, my heart was lightened of its
burden, and I could praise God for his consolation. I
came home, committed myself to him in prayer aVid faith,
lay down in my bed and slept most sweetly, and when
I awoke toward morning I was praising God aloud.
O how sweetly and delightfully my soul rests in the
Lord this morning, in him who orders all things well !
So true it is that they who trust in the Lord shall
never be confounded."
" Sept. 23. — Last Saturday and Sunday I attended a
Quarterly Meeting at Stamford. I had a blessed time in
preaching, Sabbath morning, on the influence of the Holy
Spirit. It seemed as if the fire of His inspiration came
down upon me while speaking and upon the assembly
while listening, so that we were abundantly refreshed
and strengthened, and felt as if we could go on onr way
rejoicing. I am deeply humbled under a consciousness
of my utter unworthiness before God, and often wonder
how it is that lie condescends so abundantly to bless and
comfort me. It is not surely for my Bake, but for Chri
sake, and for the Bake of his people whom he loves, and
to whom he sends me to minister, that he pours the
richef ■■• into my poor heart."
372 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ADDKESS TO KOSSUTH.
u Dec. 11. — On attending the preachers' meeting on
Monday I was requested to introduce them with an ad-
dress to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian hero and exile.
More than a hundred Methodist preachers accompanied
me on the appointed day." Dr. Bangs alluded in his
address to the religious character of Kossuth, and said :
" We wish especially to address you as Christian minis-
ters, prompted, as we humbly trust, by that religion
which has its seat in the heart, and that moves and sanc-
tifies the affections, to congratulate you on your adher-
ence to that stern religious principle which led you
indignantly to reject the tempting offer of the Mussulman.
He offered you liberty and protection upon condition
that you should renounce your Christianity and embrace
the Mohammedan faith. While some of your fellow-
exiles accepted the boon on such terms, you, sir, nobly
replied that you would prefer death to the abjuration of
your faith. This firm adherence to Christian principle,
even in the sight of a prison, as the alternative of the
acceptance of the tempting bait, has endeared you to
our hearts, and won for you a glory almost equal to that
which surrounds the memory of the martyrs."
Kossuth, in his reply, said : " In relation to the circum-
stance that happened at Kutahia, there is no need to
speak of it. There is no merit in it. Every honest man
must be obedient to his religion, and — "
Dr. Bangs (interposing.) " But begging your pardon
for interrupting you, will you please tell us whether
that is a fact or not ? We heard of such ah offer
being made."
M. Kossuth. " It is a fact. I take no merit for what
I did. Every honest man would do the same. That is
not worthy of being mentioned. If man be not truly
faithful to his God and to his religion, would he be faith-
ful to his country ? [Applause.] I have regarded, and
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 373
will always regard ray unshaken confidence in the justice
of God as the richest source of consolation, and the
solid basis of my hopes for the future of ray life, because
I am intimately convinced of the justice of the cause of
my unhappy land, and that it is not possible that the
blessing of the Almighty God should not be allotted to
its future. Very often Divine Providence takes courses
which apparently cannot be understood by weak human
minds, but by and by circumstances prove that even
in misfortune Ave shall find realized at last the great
truth that what God blesses is well done. Even misfor-
tune is often only the means to come to that end and
to that aim which God in his Divine providence has
assigned us to pursue."
DEATH OF SUSAN O. BANGS.
" Jfarch 25, 1852. — Yesterday I attended the funeral
of Susan O. Bangs, wife of my son Nathan. What a
loss has he sustained in the death of such a wife ! ' She
was one of the best of mothers in training her children,
as well as the best of wives. She professed religion and
joined the Church about three years since, and though
she enjoyed peace with God, yet her faith was feeble, and
she often trembled in view of death. She lingered some
time with consumption, and shortly before her death
the great desire of her heart was granted. Some of her
Christian friends were singing the hymn beginning,
M '0 thou God of my salvation,
My redeemer from all ain.'
When they came to the words,
11 ' Angels now are hov'ring round us,
Unperceived amid the throng ;
Wond'ring at the love that crow:.
Glad to join our holy BOnj
Halleluiah,
Love and praise to Christ heloni,'''
374 LIFE AND TIMES OF
though she had been scarcely able to articulate a word
intelligibly, her countenance suddenly lit up with a heav-
enly radiance, she waved her emaciated hand, and broke
forth in a song of holy triumph, shouting * Victory, vic-
tory, victory, in the blood of the Lamb !' After she
calmed down a little she called her two eldest children
(boys, the only ones able to understand her) and gave
them her dying charge, then addressed her weeping hus-
band and all the friends present, and gave directions
respecting her funeral. In this peaceful frame of mind
she remained until she died, once giving intimation that
she saw the spirit of her little child who had died about
a year since, and she sunk sweetly into the arms of death
without a struggle or a groan. I praise God for giving
me this testimony among so many others of the power
of religion."
d.d. 375
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE GENERAL CCXNTERENCE OP 1852.
At the New York East Conference of 1851 Dr. Bangs
was again elected delegate to the General Conference.
M Four years ago," he writes, " a strong current of prej-
udice was set in motion against me in one of our papers,
because of my views on subjects connected wTith the late
division of the Church, and with the editorial course of
that paper. I was, therefore, left out of the delegation
to the General Conference at that time. This, however,
never gave me a moment's uneasiness. I knew that,
having acted in the fear of God, he would take care of
the consequences. My brethren have now elected me
by a large majority on the first ballot. I thank God
that I have not lost their confidence, for they have given
me sufficient evidence of their respect and love in this
and in a thousand other instances during my ministerial
life." His name was preceded on the list by that of his
old friend, Dr. Laban Clark, and followed by that of his
brother, Heman Bangs. Both his name and kindred
were represented by three delegates at this session.
The General Conference assembled in Boston, May 1,
1852. Dr. Bangs rejoiced to stand again among the
representatives of the Church in a comparatively tranquil
Bession of its supreme body, for the great controversy
which had agitated its deliberations during so many
had passed away, for the present at least. His
extreme age exempted him from any onerous services in
inference; he was chairman of no committee, and
member nfbut one or two. His voice was seldom heard
in the proceedings, and then chiefly in suggestions of
parliamentary order, which his long familiarity with the
body enabled him to make.
376 LIFE AND TIMES OF
THE METHODIST PEESS.
He attempted a reform which he deemed of urgent
importance in the conduct of the journals of the
Church, by moving the resolution, " That all the editors
and correspondents of periodicals under the patronage
of this General Conference be instructed to avoid, as
far as practicable, all personalities in controversies
which may arise, and in no case to admit an anonymous
writer to assail any man's character, either in or out
of the Church." Allusion has already been made to
his difficulties with one of the Church papers, and
the alleged management of its editor against his elec-
tion as a delegate to the preceding General Conference.
He deemed himself traduced in its columns. The paper
became noted for both the frequency and the ability of
its sarcasm, especially for its attacks on Methodist
preachers who differed from it on public questions. Dr.
Bangs deplored the moral influence of its example, and
considered it the more perilous for the unquestionable
skill of its satires. He feared that, from its supreme
position among the Church organs, its example would be
copied, and the denominational press be thus generally
perverted. It was in reference to these facts and fears
that he introduced the present resolution. He had been
one of the founders, and the first official editor of this
very paper, and it seemed hard that he should, in his old
age, be caricatured by it before the whole Church, which
he had so long and faithfully served. But his own suf-
ferings were past, and it was not to resent them that he
now wished this moral restriction to be imposed upon
the dangerous power of the incumbents of the Church
press ; it was for the protection of the Church and its
individual preachers in the future. There were, indeed,
peculiar perils besetting the organization of the Method-
ist press, and requiring peculiar guards. As that press,
and the whole " Book Concern," are the property of the
X.VTUAX BANCS, D.D. 377
General Conference, and the General Conference is ex-
clusively a clerical body, the clergy exclusively own and
control the vast apparatus of the literary instruction of
the denomination — its books, tracts, Sunday-school pub-
lications, its powerful periodical organs stationed in all
Bections of the country. The election of publishers and
editors being solely with the clergy in the General Con-
ference, except the filling of vacancies in the interim of
its sessions, any public question, respecting which there
may be a division of opinion in this body, may become a
test question in these elections. The majority may ap-
point representatives of its own side, and the minority,
of both clergy and people, however large, be thus de-
pendent upon their opponents for the habitual reading
of their families, their habitual reading, it may be, on the
very questions in controversy. Obviously such an anom-
alous fact requires peculiar moral guards, at least.
Free discussion, however emphatically avowed, can
readily be overpowered by the dominant editorial in-
fluence ; it can be made even perilous to the writer who
dares to avail himself of it by the indiscretion, the sar-
casm of the controlling pen of the paper. Dr. Bangs
believed that this had been the case in the instance al-
luded to. lie hesitated not to express his conviction
that few calamities equal to this editorial example had
ever befallen the denomination, for he believed that it
would infect its journalism generally with the demoraliz-
pirit and style of the political press of the times.
This was his honest conviction and frequent assertion;
whether rightly or wrongly, need not here be discussed.
He did not, however, believe that Buch evils were inevit-
able, much less would he impeach the ministry with any
& liish design or usurpation in this peculiar organization of
its great publishing institution. The anomalous fart had
been historically an accidental fact. The early Methodist
ministry had begun, in a very humble way, the publica-
tion of work> for the benefit of it- people. It had no an-
378 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ticipation of the future power of this scheme. Its pub-
lishing plans came, properly enough, under the direction
of the annual ministerial assemblies, and, at last, under
that of the delegated quadrennial assembly. The
preachers provided its first small capital ; they were the
real, if not indeed the only salesmen of its publications
on their extended circuits. The profits of their sales
augmented its capital, until at last they found under
their control the largest religious publishing establish-
ment in the world, with important subsidiary institutions,
as Sunday-School and Tract Societies, and the most
extensive and powerful periodical press of Protestant
Christendom. The success of the enterprise was, in-
deed, a most honorable fact, and no one man had done
more for it than Dr. Bangs. But perceiving now, as
he believed, these liabilities of the abuse of so stupen-
dous a power — a power which, belonging to a purely
clerical body, might be controlled by a simple majority
of that body, might be manned by representatives of a
dominant party of that body, might, in all its tremendous
agencies, stationed in all parts of the land, be directed
in concert for or against any particular public question,
or, possibly, for or against any particular man — he saw
the necessity of some special moral restraints upon it,
some special guards, enforced by the supreme power of
the Church. Otherwise he feared that this, one of its
most potent agencies for good, might, in times of public
agitation and confusion, and especially in the hands of
injudicious men, become one of the most potent agencies
of evil. He saw but two means of safety for it : either
the moral restrictions that he now proposed, or an effect-
ive unofficial press, outside of but, on all common in-
terests of the Church, co-operative with the official press.
I am not disposed to obtrude here any discussion of the
expediency or inexpediency of his views on this question
further than is necessary for their intelligible statement.
Many of his brethren differed from him upon the subject.
d.d. 379
It was at least a delicate and an extremely difficult one
to legislate upon; it came suddenly before the General
Conference, and that body saw at a glance that it could
not be safely determined in the midst of its many other
important questions. His resolution was, therefore, laid
upon the table.
SUPERANNUATED LIFE — EEVIEW.
Dr. Bangs had sat in the first delegated General Con-
ference ; he was now sitting in the last of which he was
to be a member. On the first of June he made its last
public prayer, and retired with the veneration of all his
colleagues. But one member, besides himself, of the first
General Conference which he had attended, was a dele-
gate to the present session, his life-long friend, Laban
Clark. All the bishops, all the leading officers of the
Church in his early days, had now gone to the grave. He
was moving among a new generation, and felt that it was
time to retire and rest a little before he also should de-
part hence and be no more. He returned to his own
Conference and took a "superannuated relation," thus
concluding his active official career in the seventy-fifth
year of his age. Asking the reader now to glance back
in his own mind over the outlines of that Ions:, energetic,
devoted career, as narrated in these pages, I am sure I
do not risk much in pronouncing that the lives of few,
if indeed of any other men in the history of American
Methodism surpass it in fidelity, in steadfast devotion to
the Church, in successful labors for its substantial and
enduring interests, or in exemplary personal piety. He
had received from the authorities of the Church fifty con-
secutive annual appointments, and including his first
year in the itinerancy, when he was employed by his pre-
siding elder, he performed fifty-one years of ministerial
service. Twenty-nine of these were spent in the pastoral
office, eight in the book agency, eight in Church editor-
ship, nearly five in the missionary secretaryship, and be-
380 LIFE AND TIMES OF
tween one or two in the presidency of the Wesleyan Uni-
versity. He sat in all the General Conferences, save one,
from 1808 to 1852 ; and he was, as we have seen, a chief
actor, if not indeed the chief actor, in the most important
measures of these quadrennial sessions. His personal his-
tory has thus far been, more perhaps than that of any other
man, a history of his denomination. Of his services in found-
ing or promoting the leading interests of the Church, those
which have most contributed to its development and per-
manence, I need here add nothing ; they have appeared
throughout this narrative. A bishop of the denomi-
nation says that " his pulpit and pastoral labors in this
city and in his other appointments were highly use-
ful to the Churches. His sermons were sound in doc-
trine, sententious in style, affectionate in spirit, and direct
and pungent in application. In his advanced age they
were less energetic in manner, but equally edifying. In
the pastoral work and the administration of discipline
he had few equals in the days of his strength. In the
office of presiding elder he was pre-eminently useful.
When without a pastoral relation, and filling other highly
responsible and very laborious departments of service, he
was accustomed to preach regularly. His sermons on
special occasions were very able and useful. Since he
has held a superannuated relation to his Conference he
has preached frequently most of the time. Dr. Bangs
loved to preach, and in his later years was accustomed
to discourse on the deep things of God with great delight
to himself and great profit to the Church."*
He was now to enjoy an enviable evening of life, com-
fortably sheltered in the home of his eldest son Lemuel,
blessed with the kindest ministrations of affection
and veneration from innumerable friends, preaching as
his declining strength would allow from church to
church, using his pen occasionally in the public papers,
attending, with notable punctuality, the " Board Meet-
* His funeral sermon by Bishop Janes.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 381
ings" of the philanthropic institutions of the denomina-
tion, especially of the Missionary Society, where his seat
was, by courtesy, invariably on the platform of the pres-
ident ; and attending social meetings of devotion, espe-
cially that which was held for the "promotion of holi-
ness " at the house of his former catechetical disciple,
Mrs. Palmer, of which he had become the virtual pres-
ident, and where it was his habit and one of his choicest
pleasures to remain after the public services to join the
family and numerous guests in religious sociability at the
tea-table.
DEATH OF A SOX.
Serene and beautiful were these declining years ; but
the tranquil and radiant picture had also its shades. On
Sept. 7, 1852, he writes: "Yestercfay, at about four
o'clock A.M., my son, William M'Kendree, died in great
peace of mind, in the forty-second year of his age and the
twenty-second of his itinerant ministry. I felt the stroke
most sensibly, but was comforted in the belief that he
had gone to his rest. Such 'saint-like patience' he
exhibited through all his sickness, such meekness and
humility as I scarcely ever witnessed, and he truly ' fell
asleep in Jesus ;' for so peaceful was* his death, not a
struggle or groan escaping him, that the bystanders did
not perceive the moment when the spirit fled.
" It does not become me to say much of his excellencies
or of his defects ; but thus much I may say, that, in the
judgment of all who knew him, he was a man of un-
ibted piety, a close student, of an acute, comprehen-
sive mind, always retiring in his manners, and unobtru-
sive in his conduct.
•• Sept. 9. — Festerday his obsequies were attended in
a v ,!i and appropriate manner, Ids friends and
mine manifesting tli" most tender sympathy. <) how
isoling ii is to have Buch friends U such a time!
After I was deposited in the earth I felt in a
great measure ti ad could say, 'The Lord gave,
382 LIFE AND TIMES OF
and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of
the Lord.' "
Rev. Dr. Sprague has devoted several pages of his "An-
nals of the American Pulpit " to the memory of William
M'Kendree Bangs. Rev. Dr. M'Clintock says in that
sketch: "He possessed rare powers -of investigation, of
analysis, and of reasoning. He had a remarkable com-
mand of the English language, and selected his words
with great taste and judgment. Whether conversing
familiarly with his friends, discussing some difficult ab-
stract question, preaching to a congregation, or address-
ing a throne of grace, his style was remarkably adapted
to the subject and the occasion. His sermons were clear,
systematic, easy to be understood, neither encumbered
with extraneous 'matter, nor disfigured by learned ped-
antry. They were characterized by a beautiful simplicity,
and bore the impress altogether of a great mind. His
manner in the pulpit was solemn and dignified, express-
ive of a deep sense of his responsibility to God for the
souls committed to his charge. Among his friends he
was social and communicative, but among strangers he
was reserved, and not inclined to make new acquaint-
ances. He was kind and affectionate, very conscientious,
and a devout and sincere Christian.
"His talents, learning, and piety would have placed
him in eminent positions in the Church had his health
been equal to the efforts necessary to sustain them. No
critical mind can examine his articles in the Methodist
Quarterly Review for 1836 and 1807 without becoming
convinced that the Methodist Church lost, in the death
of William M'Kendree Bangs, one of the noblest intel-
lects ever committed to its care. His criticisms on
Richard Watson's ' Institutes ' show an acuteness and
comprehensiveness of the highest order. He was emi-
nently fitted to be a theologian, and, with good health
and longer life, he would probably have become a stand-
ard authority in Divinity among his brethren. Bishop
d.d. 383
Hedding's opinion of his capacity, formed upon these
writings, was most flattering. The bishop pronounced
him the ablest theological thinker in the denomination."
HAPPY OLD AGE.
"Oct. 26,. — Yesterday I attended a meeting at Mrs.
Palmer's. There were many testimonies given in favor
of 'perfect love," and among others, a brother preacher
remarked that a devoted Christian, when on his dying
bed, said that Satan appeared as his accuser, reminding
him of this sin, and then of another, and finally the
dying saint asked him if that was all ? The tempter
seemed to answer ' Xo ; such and such a one you have
committed.' * Is that all ?' ' Yes, but it is enough.'
'Well, then,' said the dying saint, 'write underneath,
" The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," ' and
the tempter flew, and left him triumphing in God his sal-
vation ! This, with other testimonies equally pointed,
thrilled through my soul like electricity, and I at last
rose, as I believed, under the influence of the Holy
Spirit, and said, 'I did not know that I should have
anything to communicate, but while musing upon what
I have heard the fire has burned in my heart, and I must
speak and declare the loving-kindness of the Lord.'
( I sent the word to the hearts of his people, and they
seemed melted down into tenderness before him. I con-
cluded by remarking that, this salvation of which we had
heard was of God most emphatically. That neither
repentance, prayers, faith, nor anything else we had
dour* or could do saved us from our Bins, hut that (rod,
by the operation of the Holy Spirit, wrought the whole
of it. This doctrine humbles us in the dust, strips tin-
soul of all self-dependence, and leads it to ascribe the
glory of our Balvation t<» the '" God in Christ
Jesus. The \\-<>rk is wrought in the heart by the Holy
Spirit This, and this alone, destroye -in. and fills tin'
son! with peace and joy in believing. I believe God
384 LIFE AND TIMES OF
blessed these remarks to the good of all present. I felt
my own heart warmed with Divine fire, and my under-
standing illuminated. After my return home, in secret
prayer I enjoyed such an access to the throne of grace
as I have not felt for a long time, and my soul ex-
ulted in the beams of the Sun of righteousness. Glory
and honor be to God for his unbounded love !"
"Jan. 1853.— Another year has rolled around, and yet I
am permitted to live, a monument of God's mercy ! I
desire here to record my sense of his goodness. When
I took a superannuated relation at the last Conference
I was fearful that my health and spirits would run down,
and I dreaded the thought of giving up all responsibility
or charge of any particular branch of the Church ; but
the effect of the change has been directly the reverse,
my health has gradually gained, and my spirits have been
more buoyant than usual, for all which I praise God
most sincerely. It is true, I have endeavored to keep
myself busy in reading, writing, preaching, and attend-
ing various meetings for the promotion of the cause of
God, and more especially the cause of holiness, in doing
which I have been abundantly strengthened and com-
forted, and I look forward with an increasingly bright
anticipation of everlasting happiness.
" What abundant cause have I to praise God for the
manner in which he has dealt with me all the days of
my life ! I am now in my seventy-fifth year, surrounded
with all the blessings of life, so that I want for no good
thing to make it agreeable, and, above all, enjoy peace
of mind, and a firm hope of eternal life. Surely I ought
to be thankful to my heavenly Father for his un-
bounded love to me, a sinner, a sinner saved by grace.
" My children are grown up around me, all blessed
with temporal prosperity; some of them are relig
ious, all steady and moral, and all show a tender re-
gard for my welfare. How thankful I am that* I have
not had a profligate in my family, though two of my
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 385
children, a daughter and son, have suffered aberra-
tion of mind. This, to be sure, was a keen affiction,
known only to a father who is called upon to experi-
ence it."
On his birthday he resumes this grateful strain, now
almost continually recurring in his manuscript.
"May 2. — This day I am seventy-five years of age.
What a miracle of the divine goodness am I ! The last
year has been one of much mercy. My health has much
improved, so that I have gained ten pounds in weight, am
able to move about nearly as well as ever I could, to preach
once every Sabbath, sometimes twice, and attend other
meetings for the promotion of the cause of Christ. After
rising from bed I endeavored anew to consecrate myself
to God, praising him for all his past blessings, and pray-
ing him to accept the offering I thus make to him, whose
I am, and whom I endeavor to serve in the spirit. I do
feel indeed that he accepts me, unworthy as I am ; that
he lifts up the light of his countenance upon my soul
and gives me peace. O that my heart, as well. as my
lips, may praise him.
" ' God .of my life, to thee
My cheerful soul I give !
Thy goodness bade rue be,
And still prolongs my days :
I see my natal hour return,
And bless the day that I was born.' "
He was able to attend several camp-meetings this snm-
preaching at them all, and enjoying their social and
Christian privileges with the zest of earlier years, lie
minded occasionally, toweyer, of his advancii
by the return of his former symptoms of cerebral conges-
•metimes Buffering briei periods of unconsciousness.
" In all things," however, he " gives thanks." " Indeed,"
he writes, -often when I kn< ■• the Lord in
• my prayer is turned into praise, so that I cannot
386 LIFE AND TIMES OF
but thank God with a full and overflowing heart for
his numerous acts of loving-kindness manifested to me
and mine. Glory ! glory be to God most high !"
Thus pass slowly and tranquilly his declining years ;
they are seldom marked now by any very salient events,
and their peaceful tenor, full of quiet enjoyment and
moral beauty, is sufficiently indicated by the occasional
citations already given. Pages could be filled with simi-
lar passages ; they would, however, not only be super-
fluous, but monotonous, notwithstanding their devout
spirit. Let us then pass rapidly along his remaining
course, pausing only at its most marked incidents.
OLD REMINISCENCES.
In the spring of 1855 he received the following letter
— full of grateful reminiscences — from his early cola-
borer in Canada, the veteran JVilliam Case :
"Alnwick, March 16, 1855.
"Reverend and Dear Brother: What scenes and
changes have passed since we commenced our ministry !
Most of our early associates in the ministry in this coun-
try have passed triumphantly to the great reward ; yet
the Church is supplied abundantly and ably. The mem-
bership, too, have increased from scores to hundreds and
thousands. Once we addressed the few in private
dwellings ; larger assemblies were congregated in barns,
for churches were 'few and far between.' We now
preach to thousands; churches have arisen, large and
numerous, in our cities, towns, and circuits ! Brother,
after more than half a century of toil, you, perhaps, are
scarcely able to visit the scenes of your former labors.
Would it not be delightful to do so ? Your appearance
among the descendants of your early Christian friends
would fill them with delight ; and could you not do more
for God and the Church by traveling at large than by
tracing a thousand times the streets of a city ? Your
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 387
experience in the things of God, your counsel in the
interests of the Church, would have its influence favor-
ably in the closing scene of so lengthened a ministerial
course. Could you not again visit Canada, the land of
your youth, of your conversion to God, your early min-
istry, and of the mission field you have aided to culti-
vate ? The railroad would bring you to Kingston or to
Hamilton in a few hours. Once we toiled on horseback
through wild forests, from two and a half to four miles an
hour ; now forty miles is the speed we move ! Brother,
try it before leaving for the 'fairer climes.' Sickness
prevented last season your meeting your appointment in
Toronto. Perhaps you may be with us at our Confer-
ence in London the first Wednesday in June. The two
or three hundreds of Canada preachers would be happy
to meet you there.
" During the winter just passing I have enjoyed the
unspeakable pleasure of visiting the scenes of our early
labors, yours and mine. I passed through Hallowell,
Belleville, Kingston, Elizabethtown, Brockville, Augusta,
Matilda, and thence to Bytown, (Ottawa City ;) thence
to Perth and Wolford, on the Rideau ; then home,
through a portion of the northern new settlements. In
this route I found some, though few, of our former
religious friends now living. Arthur Youmans, Rufus
Shorey, Mrs. M'Lean, (formerly Widow Coatt,) and
William Brown, are yet living, at the ages of from
eighty to ninety-one. Youmans (at the latter age) was
one of the members of the first class formed in Hal-
lowell, January, 1793, by Darius Dunham. A class pa-
per of the same class was written by Elijah Wolsey in
ijut the parents of the Johnsons, Conger-. Van
Deusens, Kobbins, Germans, Hull-, Emburys, Detlors,
Clarke*, Parrots, Maddens, Keders, Colemans, Hecks,
. Anii-. Dulmages, Laurences, are all
gone; yet they live in their examples of piety, integrity,
hospitality, and Christian benevolence. These virtues are
388 LIFE AND TIMES OF
prominent, to a great extent, in their numerous descend-
ants. The progeny bears a striking impress of their
worthy patriarchal fathers.
" You will remember the names of Samuel and Jacob
Heck, of Augusta, and the Emburys, of Bay of
Quinte — the former the sons of Paul Heck and his
worthy companion, the parents of Methodism in the
city of New York and in America. The parents are
gone, and the sons have followed them in the way of
holiness to glory ; but a numerous train of grandchild-
ren are pursuing the Christian course 'their fathers trod'
— intelligent, pious, and wealthy. ' Blessed are the meek :
for they shall inherit the earth? A few years since I
visited John Embury and his worthy companion. He
was then ninety-eight years old. The scenes of early
Methodism in New York were vivid in his recollection,
and he referred to them as readily as if they had recent-
ly occurred. He said : ' My uncle, Philip Embury, was
a great man — a powerful preacher — a very powerful
preacher. I had heard many ministers before, but noth-
ing reached my heart till I heard my Uncle Philip preach.
I was then about sixteen. The Lord has since been
my trust and portion. I am now ninety-eight. Yes, my
Uncle Philip was a great preacher.' After this interview
he lived about a year, and died suddenly, as he rose
from prayer in his family, at the age of ninety-nine. The
Emburys, Detlors, Millers, Maddens, Switzers, of Bay
of Quinte, are numerous and pious, and some of them
ministers of the Gospel, all firmly grounded in Method-
ism. Their Palatine origin is prominent in their health,
integrity, and industry; and their steadfast piety by
Irish training on Mr. Wesley's knee. Old Mrs. Detlor,
forty years ago, told me, 'When a child, in Ireland, Mr.
Wesley took me on his knee, when I sang for him
" ' Children of the heavenly King,
As we journey let us sing.'
NATHAN BANGS, P.D. 389
■ You will remember Rev. William Brown, of Wol-
ford, River Rideao. lie was once, as you know, one of
our most efficient and talented traveling ministers. lie
is now eighty-six. A few weeks since I spent a Sabbath
at his house. He is yet vigorous in mind, his voice
pretty clear and full. He took part in the exercises of
the Quarterly Meeting, opened the love-feast, and ad-
dressed the congregation at the close of the sermon.
He spoke of the early ministers, and the piety of our
steadfast saints, who had gone to glory, and seemed ani-
mated with the prospect of soon joining them in the
song of redemption."
HIS GOLDEX WEDDIXG.
April 23, 1856, he writes, "was the fiftieth annivers-
ary of my wedding-day. A large number of my friends
attended at my son's house." The following account,
from the Christian Advocate, will show how it was ob-
served : " A private social entertainment of a rare but
most agreeable character took place at the residence of
Mr. Lemuel Bangs on Wednesday evening of last week.
The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary of the wedding
of Dr. Xathan and Mrs. Mary Bangs. There was
a large assemblage of Dr. Bangs's personal and social
friends, who came to felicitate the venerable couple at
their entrance upon the second half century of their mar-
ried life. .The doctor's descendants were also present to
the second generation, the infantry of the family only
being absent. There were none of those who were
witnesses of the event which was commemorated, but
there were none upon whom the occasion did not exert
tl and happy influence. The pervading spirit was
happily represented by the Rev. Dr. Foster, to whom an
opportunity was given in the course of the evening, and
on behalf of those assembled, t<> make a congratulatory
address to the doctor and his lady, in which he briefly,
390 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the occasion, and pictured the contrast between the wed-
ding fifty years ago and its anniversary at that hour.
From 1856 to 1806: what a retrospect in the lives of
those to whom he conveyed the greetings and the kind
wishes of their assembled friends. To this conerratula-
tory address the doctor made an appropriate and happy
reply. Dr. Reese and Mrs. Palmer also contributed to
the festivity by two appropriate hymns, which were
sung by the company, and an elegant supper concluded
this memorable reunion."
An elegant little brochure, entitled " Memorial of the
Golden Wedding of the Rev. Nathan and Mrs. Mary
Bangs, April 23, 1856," was published, giving a full
account of the ceremonies of the occasion, and finely
executed portraits of the aged couple. There were
present one hundred and eleven persons, including many
of the most familiarly known preachers and laymen of
New York Methodism, and no less than twenty-eight
bearing the name of Bangs. After Rev. Dr. Foster had
addressed to Dr. Bangs the congratulations of the as-
sembly the doctor replied, sketching somewhat his long
career. " We have of course," he said, " passed through
some afflictions, and had our share of toil and trials, as
well as seasons of prosperity and times of rejoicing ; but
in them all the Lord has been with us, to sustain and com-
fort us, and his people have treated us kindly, and been
ever ready to supply our wants. The first year of our
marriage we went to Quebec, where Methodism was
known only as a term of reproach: there we labored
hard, and suffered a little without seeing much fruit of
our labors, only so far as to open the way for our suc-
cessors. The next year we were stationed in Montreal,
where, in the midst of many privations, God was with
us and blessed our labors, and comforted our own souls.
The next year, 1808, we moved to the United States,
and were stationed on the Delaware Circuit, in the midst
of our relations, where we enjoyed many consolations*
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 391
though the labor was great. Thence we went the next
year on to the Durham Circuit, where I held a public con-
troversy with a Hopkinsian minister, and wrote the first
book I ever published, a small pamphlet against the
" Christians," so called. Those were then comparatively
new countries, the rides long, and the fare not the best ;
but the people were kind, and the Lord was with us
and blessed our labors. The next year, 1810, we were
stationed in the city of Xew York, where there were only
three churches and five preaching places ; there was
only one parsonage, that in John-street, consequently
we had to occupy parts of houses, but were received and
treated with great kindness. All our wants were supplied,
and God owned and blessed our labors abundantly.
" From that time to this, with the exception of about
eight years, we have resided in this city, filling various
stations, as preacher, book agent, editor, corresponding
secretary of the Missionary Society, and presiding elder;
and O, what has God wrought for the Church since
that time !
"In 1806, the year we were married, the Methodist
Episcopal Church numbered 130,570; it now numbers,
including the Xorth and South, 1,320,566. And what
abundant cause have we, personally, for gratitude !
During all this time God has been with us in adversity
and prosperity, supplying our wants in the time of need,
blessing us temporally and spiritually, lengthening out
our years— my own to seventy-eight, and my wife's to
sixty-eight — bearing with our infirmities ; and though we
have had our share of afflictions of body and mind, our
consolations have been great, and we have found that
all things have worked together for our good.
••.My beloved wife has been a fruitful vine. We have
had eleven children, my <"ii- and five daughters, and we
have fifteen grandchildren. Seven of our children are
now living, five Bona and two daughters; and four of our
sons are married, and live near by us. In the hou>t- of
392 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the oldest of these we are now assembled, surrounded
by the rest of my children and grandchildren, all who
are able to be here ; and with this assemblage of affec-
tionate and Christian friends we are permitted to cele-
brate the fiftieth anniversary of our wedding-day ! I
must say that this, if not the happiest, yet is one of the
happiest days of my life."
The " Memorial " adds : " The meeting of early friends,
whom circumstances and the varied interests of life had
separated for many years, was most cordial and sincere ;
the friendly grasp of hands, and the hearty recognition
of faces long unseen, led to many exclamations of happy
surprise, and presented altogether a scene rarely to be
met with. From every part of the city were observed
those who were early engaged in the service of the
Church, well known to each other, but not often meeting
around the social board. The old, the middle-aged, the
young, were alike represented, and all alike were enthu-
siastically alive to the interest of the occasion. In the
midst of this friendly enthusiasm supper was announced,
when the company partook of the rich repast and soon
after separated for home. Thus ended this rare festive
occasion, owing much of its interest to the eldest beloved
daughter-in-law of the aged couple. At her suggestion it
was commenced, and through her perseverance and hap-
py management it was gracefully accomplished."
DEATH OF ANOTHER SON".
The next domestic event noticed in his journals is one
of the shades of the serene picture. " My dear son
Nathan died on the 17th of December, 1856. I was
with him much of the time during his sickness, and of
course witnessed his sufferings, and could but sympathize
with his sorrowing wife. He was, indeed, a remarkable
child in some respects, for I do not remember of his ever
having given me a cross word, but until he set up busi-
ness for himself my word was his law." The following
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 393
obituary, written by Rev. Dr. Foster, gives a true ac-
count of his character, conversion, and death.
"He was born October 21, 1813, in Sharon, Connecti-
cut, and died of erysipelas on the 17th of December,
in the city of New York. Though naturally of a most
amiable and lovely character, and scrupulously careful in
the observance of all the requirements of an elevated
standard of morality — one of the best of sons, kindest
of husbands, and most upright of citizens — it was not
until August, 1855, in the forty-second year of his age,
that lie made a profession of religion. Always gentle
and quiet in his disposition, regular in his habits, and
punctual in attendance upon the public worship of God,
his religious life was scarcely, in its external manifesta-
tions, attended with any observable change. The marked
change was in his interior experience. His soul was
brought into living, conscious communion with God, and
he was enabled to feel that he was a child of God and an
heir of heaven. A short time before his death he re-
marked to his father, ' I have been under a gloom for
three or four days, but now all is peace and tranquillity,
and I am perfectly resigned to the will of God.' This
was his dying testimony, as he shortly afterward became
incapable of communicating with those who watched
mournfully about his dying bed. The large class of in-
telligent gentlemen connected with the book trade in its
various departments throughout the country will long
cherish his memory as a most worthy member of their
fraternity, and as an ornament of the great business firm
of which he was a prominent member, that of Bangs,
Brother, & Co. His funeral was numerously attended
by a thoughtful and sorrowing public."
The death of this son Was a Bevere blow to the father.
He bore the father's name and honored it in the business
world in the highest department of mercantile life, the
book trade. At the sixty-fifth Annual Trade Sale ex-
Mayor James Harper, <>f tie I [arper & Brothers,
394 LIFE AND TIMES OF
addressed the assemblage respecting the deceased. "We
all," he said, " knew him, and not only respected him in
our business relations, but we cherished the highest es-
teem for him personally as a true-hearted man. I knew
him intimately for many years ; my associations with him
are now hallowed by his death. The recollection of them
saddens me, especially on an occasion like the present,
when I see so many old friends and familiar faces. Most
of us now present were also here in September last, a
little more than six months ago. Our deceased friend
was here among us. Successive trade sales have made
us long familiar with his tall, active form — his straight-
forward, manly look — his energetic business capacities
— his courteous and amiable demeanor. At each sale we
had been welcomed by the hearty, frank grasp of a true
hand, always acting from a warm, true, heart. That
hand now lies cold in death. He was in the prime of
vigorous manhood, dearly beloved by his family and
friends, endeared to them by many domestic virtues.
Possessed of rare tact, energy, and perseverance, and of
a high sense of justice and honor, he was an ornament to
our trade. God, in his all-wise providence, has seen fit
to suddenly remove him from among us. Let us fondly
cherish the memory of our deceased friend. Let us also
cherish it worthily, by resolving that our intercourse
with one another shall be kindly and amicable, so that if
before we meet again death should remove another from
among us, our remembrance of the departed one may be
as kindly and pleasant as our remembrance now is of our
late esteemed friend and brother, Nathan Bangs, Jr."
Resolutions of respect for his memory were also passed
on this occasion.
d.d. 395
CHAPTER XXVII.
PEACE IX SUFFERING.
Ox the 18th of February, 1857, Dr. Bangs records
in his journal : " I have been very sick. About six
weeks ago I was suddenly seized with chills and fever,
shook all over like an aspen leaf, and soon seemed con-
suming with a hot fever. A homeopathic physician, Dr.
Palmer, was sent for, and in about three hours, by the
blessing of God, he succeeded in subduing the fever by
inducing a profuse perspiration, so that I was measurably
relieved. When I came to myself, for I was delirious,
I found my children standing around my bed watching
me with great anxiety, for they thought me in danger.
In the midst of my bodily distress my soul was wonder-
fully borne up with the consolations of the Holy Spirit,
and I could joyfully exclaim, in the strong language of
John Wesley :
" ' 0 Love, thou bottomless abyss !
My sins are swallowed up in thee ;
Cover' d is my unrighteousness,
Nor spot of guilt remains on me :
"While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies,
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries.'
" I had three attacks, one every second day, of this
dreadful fever, though the last was comparatively slight.
When it left me my strength was much prostrated ; but I
was free from pain, my mind buoyant, and my heart filled
with love to God and man. Every night when I laid me
down to rest these wTords came sweetly to my mind,
" ' Jesus protects ; my fears, begone :
What can the Rock of Ages move ?
Safe in thy arms I lay me down, —
Thine everlasting arms of love '
396 LIFE AND TIMES OF
and I could calmly resign myself to the care of the Divine
love, and rest without any fear. Nay, I could look upon
death with pleasure, having not only no fears, but a joy-
ful anticipation of future bliss, and the pleasure of meet-
ing the friends of Jesus who had gone before me into
the land of rest."
RELATIONS OP FAITH AND SANCTIFICATIOIS".
"March 15. — On the 10th mst. I attended a meeting for
the promotion of holiness at Mrs. Palmer's. This I did
in the spirit of self-sacrifice, as I felt it my duty to speak
against certain theories which have sometimes been
broached there and elsewhere. I prayed most earnestly
to God that he would be pleased to direct my thoughts
and words, so that I might speak forth the words of
' truth and soberness ' in love and meekness. I rose un-
der a trembling sense of my responsibility, and remarked
that I had been a minister of the Gospel fps about fifty-
six years ; that I was converted or justified about fifty-
seven years ago, and in about six months afterward re-
ceived the blessing of sanctification ; that both blessings
were so clear, and the evidence of them so distinct, that
I have never had any doubt of them from that day to
this, though I must confess, to my shame, that I have
not lived in the enjoyment of sanctification at all times
since ; yet whenever I recurred to it, either in conversa-
tion or preaching, it always set my soul on fire.
"I did not make up my judgment on this subject
hastily. In addition to reading the sacred Scriptures
with diligence and prayer, and conversing with God's peo-
ple in reference to it, I read Mr. Wesley's ' Plain
Account of Christian Perfection,' some portions of Mr.
Fletcher's writings on the subject, and was fully con-
vinced of its necessity, nature, and fruits, so that I
sought it understanding^, and foimd it, to the joy of my
heart. From that day to this I have read most that has
been written by various authors, in our own and other
NATHAN BANGS, D.I). 397
c 3, >n the subject of holiness, and T am not
• us of having deviated during the fifty-six years
of my ministry from the theory marked out by Mr.
y, which I lirst embraced. On the contrary,
everything I have heard or read, whether written by
enemies or friends, lias only confirmed me in the correct-
ness of Mr. Wesley's views.
"I fully believe that we are both justified and sancti-
fied by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that when so justified or sanctified the Holy Spirit
sets his seal upon our hearts, and gives us an evidence
that the work is done. All those Scriptures, therefore,
which speak of the necessity of having faith in God,
of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, etc., I need
hardly say I fully embrace, and urge upon others
as necessary conditions of justification and saneti-
fication. But what is this faith by which the believer is
sanctified ? Though the holy Scriptures frequently
speak of faith, and urge its necessity, saying that ' with-
out faith it is impossible to please Him,' yet I rec-
ollect but one place in which a definition of faith is
given, and that is Heb. xi, 1, where it is said ' Xow
faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evi-
dence of things not seen.'
" The substance of things hoped for ! What are the
things hoped for ? They are everything future to the
Christian ; that is, heaven with all its glories, embracing
every intermediate blessing necessary to fit us for that
holy and happy place. Xow, it seems hardly proper to
say that faith is now the substana of all these divine
realities :i- though we had them already in ;
This could not have been the meaning of the apostle. I
think, therefore, with many good critics, that the
Greek word there rendered mbstanet should have ben
idence, as it is so translated in a number
of other places in the sacred Scriptures. Thus rendered
the sense will be clear and complete ' ' Now faith is the
398 LIFE AND TIMES OF
confidence of things hoped for, and the evidence of things
not seen;' that is to say, all the veterans whom the
apostle enumerates in the subsequent parts of that chap-
ter, as well as all others, have had the fullest confidence in
the truth of God's promises which relate to future glory,
and, of course, have had an evidence through the same me-
dium; that is, a firm confidence in the truth of God re-
specting these things.
"In exact conformity with this inspired definition of
faith, Mr. Wesley gives the following definition of the
faith which instrumentally sanctifies the soul : ' But what
is that faith whereby we are sanctified, saved from
sin, and perfected in love ? 1 . It is a divine evidence
and conviction that God hath promised it in the holy
Scriptures. Till we are thoroughly convinced of this,
there is no moving one step further. 2. It is a divine
evidence and conviction that what God has promised he
is able to perform. 3. It is a divine evidence and con-
viction that he is able and vrilling to do it now. To this
confidence, that God is both able and willing to sanctify
us now, there needs to be added one thing more, a divine
evidence and conviction that he doth it?
" This definition is quoted by Mr. Fletcher with ap-
probation, and therefore he sets his seal to its correct-'
ness. Now, it is most manifest that Mr. Wesley consid-
ered that the faith by which we are sanctified is insepar-
ably connected with a divine evidence and conviction
that the work is done ; and hence the theory which
teaches that we are to lay all upon the altar or surrender up
our hearts to God by faith in Christ, and then believe
that God has accepted, or does accept the offering, with-
out our having any evidence of the Holy Spirit that it
is accepted, or having any change in our disposition, or
any emotion of joy and peace, more than we had before,
is not sound, is unscriptural, and anti-Wesleyan ; for
the Scriptures assert that ' he that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself;' and Mr. Wesley
d.d. 399
savs in the above definition that 'faith is a divine evi-
dence and conviction that God hath promised to sanctify
all those that come unto him ; that he is both able and will-
ing to do it, to do it noic. and lastly that he doth it.' All
this is accompanied with a divine evidence and convic-
tion that the work is done ; and hence, according to him,
if we believe it is done before we have this divine evi-
dence and conviction, we believe icithoid evidence, and
are therefore every moment liable to deception.
" But in opposition to this view it is asserted that we
have the Holy Scriptures as an evidence of the work,
and Abraham is cited, who 'believed God, and it was
counted to him for righteousness.' But Abraham did
not derive his faith from the Holy Scriptures, for they
were not written until more than four hundred years
after his time. It is stated in Gen. xv that the word of
the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, and during the in-
terview with this ' word of the Lord' — probably the Lord
Jesus himself — the promise was made to Abram that he
should have an heir in his old age. This he firmly be-
lieved, and this faith was reckoned unto him for right-
eousness. Let God appear to us, and speak to our hearts
through whatever medium, and bear witness to our
spirits that we are justified or sanctified, and then, and
not till then, are we authorized to believe it. In the
Mature of things a fact, and its evidence must precede
the belief in it and its evidence, otherwise we make the
existence of the fact depend upon our faith, which is
simply absurd. "We must, therefore, be sanctified, and
have an evidence of it before we have any scriptural
authority to believe it ; so it appears to me, for the
existence of the fact and its evidence must precede our
belief in their reality, otherwise ire may ] - whim
or fancy may dictate, having no foundation for our faith.
"To the assertion that the Holy Scriptures are our evi-
dence I answer that the Holy Scriptures, though true
and infallible, are not in themselves anv evidence to me
400 LIFE AND TIMES OF
that I am either justified or sanctified ; they simply declare
who are sanctified, and give marks or evidences of the
work. For instance, St. Paul says: 'Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.' Here peace with God is the evidence of my
justification. Where shall I look for this peace? Not
in the Scriptures, but in my own heart, and if I find it
there I have a scriptural evidence that I am justified. So
St. John says: 'Perfect love casteth out fear' that hath
torment. This also I must find, if anywhere, in my own
heart. Do I then, by careful examination, find that I am
delivered from the slavish fear of death and hell, of men
and devils, and of the judgment? If so I have reason,
on scriptural ground, to conclude myself sanctified, more
especially if I bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in my
tempers and dispositions, and keep the commandments
of God. These and such like evidences of sanctification
were enlarged upon, and pressed home upon all present.
" But it is possible that I am deceived. How shall I
detect deception ? I answer, The Holy Scripture has
furnished me with a test. Do I bring forth the fruits of
the Spirit — 'love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance?' If these fruits
' be in me, and abound,' then I have a right to believe
that I have that Holy Spirit that produces them, for such
is their excellence that the apostle says, 'Against such
there is no law,' either of God or man. This test is
given both to prove the truth of our sanctification, and
also to detect deception should there be any, for 'the
tree is known by its fruits.'
" I have referred to Abraham. After the messengers
left him he Offered a sacrifice to God. This sacrifice, as
well as all the sacrifices under the Mosaic law, was typ-
ical of the sacrifice of Christ, and they had their complete
fulfillment when he died upon the cross, so that 'he is the
end of the law to every one that believeth,' that is, the
law of sacrifices had its end completely accomplished by
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 401
the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross ; and hence, all vve
have to do in order to salvation, including justification
and sanctitication, is to receive him by faith, and when we
thus receive him we are so saved, and have an evidence
of it by the internal testimony of the Spirit.
" But this faith is always accompanied by works.
Even the penitent sinner, seeking the pardon of his sins,
must repent anc| ' do works meet for repentance ;' he
must ' cease to do evil, and learn to do well,' according
to his light and opportunity. And the penitent believer
must 'walk in the light, as God is in the light;' that is,
he must go forward in every good word and work, 'grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus,' in
order to exercise that faith in Jesus Christ by which he
obtains the sanctifying love of God, and this is accord-
ing to the scriptural representation of the faith of Abra-
ham. ' Seest thou how faith wrought together with his
works, and by works was faith made perfect.' This
was the substance of what I said, as nearly as I can rec-
ollect it, and I believe my memory does not fail me, for
it was deeply impressed upon my heart, and I had delib-
erated for some days on the subject and thoroughly di-
gested it in my mind ; had prayed over it, most earnestly
had prayed God to direct my thoughts and words, that I
might speak according to his will and word. I arose
under a trembling sense of my responsibility, and spoke,
I fully believe, in the fear and love of God with all the
deliberation I could command, knowing that I must give
an account in the great day for my words. J felt, indeed,
the vows of God upon me, and spoke as a minister of
the Lord Jesus, even in his name, who had accounted
me worthy to be put in trust with the Gospel. I there-
fore solemnly warned those who professed to believe that
merely because they had laid all upon the altar, or had
surrendered up their hearts to God, he had adopted
them, without any evidence of the Holy Spirit that they
were adopted, or any change in their disposition, <»:• any
402 LIFE AND TIMES OF
emotion of love and joy, to beware that they did not de-
ceive themselves, as I greatly feared some had done ; for
if this be all that is required of us, namely, to believe
that we are accepted before we have a witness that we
are, it is to believe without evidence, and hence I fully be-
lieve that many have been deceived and are deceiving
themselves daily. I therefore exhorted them to examine
themselves carefully and prayerfully, ^nd not to rest
satisfied with anything short of the witness and fruits of
the Holy Spirit.
"I ought, perhaps, to add that I do not think, nor
did I intend to insinuate, that all who thus speak are de-
ceived. Their hearts are better than their heads, and
how far God may make allowance for merely mental
errors is not for me to say ; but this I know, that he
bears much and long with such infirmities, or he would
never have borne with me as he has. Hence we are
commanded to ' bear each other's infirmities, and so fulfill
the law of Christ.'
" But the error at which I aim is not a mere incidental
error. It is, in my judgment, a fundamental one, as it
strikes at the root of experimental religion, for if I may
believe myself sanctified without any evidence of the
Holy Spirit that the work has been wrought, I may be-
lieve anything else before I have any evidence of it, and
this tends to destroy all rational and scriptural belief, as it
supersedes the necessity of evidence in faith ; I may be-
lieve or not, as whim or fancy dictate." *
DEATH OF A DAUGHTER.
On the 21st of October he lost by death his daughter,
Mary Eliza Bangs — one of the dearest of his children.
One of her intimate friends f writes: "She was born at
Rhinebeck, N.Y., October 31,1815, and from her infancy
* Dr. Bangs left a written charge that if any public use should be
made of his manuscript journal this important passage should not be
omitted.
t Mrs. C. R. Deuel Wright.
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 403
may be Baid to have been a child of God, for at her baptism
such a heavenly influence rested upon those assembled
that the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, who baptized her,
remarked, ' I had such nearness to God while praying for
that infant that I believe the Lord regenerated her soul
in the baptismal rite.' During her early childhood she
evinced great seriousness of thought, ol'ttimes surprising
her parents with the depth of her remarks on religious
subjects, causing them to feel that their little daughter
was indeed a child of rare excellence and acquirements.
When she was in her thirteenth year she felt the need
of a direct witness of the Spirit that she was indeed
born again. She sought the Lord with all her heart, and
was most powerfully blessed with the assurance of her
adoption. To use her own expression, ' I felt that all
within and without praised the Lord the most high ;
even the trees of the grove seemed to break forth in re-
joicing.' From that time until her death ^he never lost
the witness that she was a child of God. A short time
after her conversion her mother's health became feeble,
and. young as she was, she manifested so much stability
of character, united with mature judgment, that her
parents felt no hesitancy in confiding to her the culture
and training, to a great degree, of the younger children,
and thus early she was taught the lesson of self-sacrifice,
which so eminently characterized her through life. Added
to this charge, the wife of a beloved brother died, leav-
ing an infant son, who was plaeed under her care, and
upon whom she bestowed all the affection and attentions
of a mother. A few years elapsed when a second brother
same bereavement, and two more mother-
less children were added to her cherishing care, at her
own request. Her- was indeed a love which %new no
for ai the death of the wife of her third brother
the <lying mother gave her Infant to .Mary, thus proving
_ ice her whole family had in her capacity
and affection. Thus was the life of ourbelo*
404 LIFE AND TIMES OF
in doing good. In the Sabbath-school, the Bible class,
and the Class and prayer-meeting, she was always list-
ened to with the deepest interest. She was collected,
serious, yet cheerful. Her surprising gift in addressing
the throne of grace often led her father to call upon her
to conduct the' religious devotions of family worship.
Her paternal uncle remarked on the day of her death that
he had never known her to speak ill of a human being.
She had been so long taught in the school of self-sacrifice,
that she seemed to have an abiding resignation to the will
of her heavenly Father, and when called to part by death
with one after another of her brothers and sisters, she
would say, ' I must resign them ; I must not murmur ; He
who loves me knows what is best, and we ought, as Chris-
tians, under every circumstance of life, to learn to say,
' Good is the will of the Lord.' For several years her
health seemed to decline, but she continued to adminis-
ter to the comfort and happiness of all around her, in
entire forgetfulness of self, and when urged to take less
care of others and more of herself, would reply, ' I shall
soon be better ; it is only temporary.' On the morning
of her death we found she was fast- sinking. She re-
marked, ' How weak and helpless we are when sickness
takes hold of us.' We repeated the words, ' But Jesus
does make a dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are.'
She turned to the friend addressing her, and asked, ' Do
you think I am dying?' She replied, 'Dear Mary, you
will soon be in the celestial city; you are going home
to die no more.' ' Do you think so ?' was the calm and
significant reply. 'I am willing, for the Lord always
knows what is best for me, and his will, not mine, be
done.' A little while after another friend came to her
bedside, ^Uid commenced repeating, 'Though I walk
through the valley and shadow of death,' etc. Mary
took up the words of the verse, and repeated them
several times, laying great stress on the words, ' his rod
and his staff, thev comfort me.' An hour or two after
d.d. 405
she said she had such a view of her future home that she
felt she would soon be with her Lord and Saviour. To
her afflicted mother she said, 'Don't weep for me; it
won't be long ; you will soon come.' She asked for her
sister, and putting her arm around her neck, as if to leave
some parting wish, said, 'Dear Rebecca, live only for
heaven. I know you are striving, but go on.' About
one hour before her death her uncle, Rev. Heman Bangs,
approached the bed, and taking her hand, said, 'My
dear child, if Jesus is preoious to you now, press my
hand.' She made an effort to speak, and, her lips being
moistened, replied distinctly,* ' O yes, yes ; unspeakably
so.' She then sank into a sweet repose, and seemed
conversing with some invisible friend, and would answer,
' Yes, O yes.' We scarcely knew when the spirit left
the body ; it did not seem like death, but a transition
from ' God on earth to God in heaven.' "
" I do not know," writes the afflicted father, " that I
ever had a greater struggle of soul than I had during her
sickness, it seeming impossible to resign her up to death.
Indeed, she was so entwined around my heart that it
seemed like cutting its strings asunder to surrender her
to the grave. I accordingly now pleaded earnestly with
God in prayer that he would, if possible consistently with
his will, spare her valuable life, and I sometimes persuaded
myself to believe she would recover ; but when I saw
that all hope of this was fled, I cheerfully resigned her
up to God; and when her breath was gone, I shouted
out, Glory to God in the highest ! I could hardly refrain
from so doing, for I felt that I had another jewel in the
Saviour's crown. We all miss her indeed, but there is
nothing gloomy about her departure, as her whole life,
and more especially her sickness and death, were sur-
rounded with a halo of glory, so that the recollections
of her life and death are all pleasant, grateful, and
delightful."
Thus did the veteran linger, while his children and
406 - LIFE AND TIMES OF
early associates were departing. On his next birthday
he writes : " On the second day of this month, May,
1858, I completed my eightieth year. I record my grati-
tude to God for his boundless mercy to me. My old
companions are dying off. P. P. Sandford, W. Jewett,
A. Hunt, E. Washburn, and George Coles, all old
preachers, ranging from seventy to ninety-one years,
have recently departed in peace, and I must soon follow
them. But I thank God for permitting me to live to see
this day ; such a day as I never saw before ; a day of
general revivals in America and Europe !"
REVIVALS.
He took a lively interest in the revivals which pre-
vailed abomf this period ; and in the autumn of this year
he shared in the celebration of the "Religious Jubilee"
at the Fulton-street Church, which was addressed by
Rev. Drs. De Witt, Krebs, Gillette, Van Pelt, Adams,
and Spring, besides himself. The temple was crowded,
and the assembly was largely composed of clergymen.
Dr. Bangs said, among many other remarks : " The re-
cent revival of religion among us, and throughout the
country, I have considered as a' very remarkable man-
ifestation of the goodness of God. I have been in the
ministry now for about fifty-seven years, a little over
fifty-seven years, and I have seen a great many powerful
revivals during that time* in various parts of the country,
and in Canada. Many sinners have been awakened and
converted, and believers sanctified ; but those revivals of
religion were of a local character ; they were confined
to one or two denominations, and they were opposed, in
fact, by a great many professors of religion as fanati-
cism. But what is the character of the present revival ?
It is not confined to time nor to place. It has spread
through all the different denominations of Protestant
Christians — pretty much all, I believe ; some, perhaps,
have not shared so largely in it as others. Still, what
NATHAN BANGS/D.D. 4'07
has been the effect of it ? "Why, sir, we see the effect of
it here to-day. It brings the different denominations
together, and makes them for a moment forget their de- •
nominational peculiarities; it tears down their sectarian
prejudices, and makes them feel all as one. So I feel,
and so, I trust, you feel also. I feel as though it was my
duty to preach principally upon experimental and prac-
tical religion, and I am ready to give the right hand of
fellowship to every man that will join me upon that
theme."
AN INTERESTING SCENE.
On January 24, 1859, an emphatic testimony of respect
was made to him by his Xew York friends, which was
reported as follows in the public journals : " Last Satur-
day evening for a long time will live in the memories
of the leading Methodists of the commercial emporium.
Some three hundred of the friends of the venerable Dr.
Bangs, now near eighty-one years old, assembled at the
house of Dr. M'Clintock, in Irving Place, and led by
Bishop Janes and his amiable lady, in a body proceeded
to the residence of L. Bangs, Esq., where Dr. Bangs
now lives, and soon crowded the rooms of the large
domicil.
"The assembly was immediately called to order, and
Bishop Janes made a most impressive address to the
veteran of the cross, sitting in the front parlor, sur-
prised at the unexpected call of such a host of friends.
The bishop touched on the leading points in the career
of this eminent servant of the Church — his early labors
in Canada, his ministerial work in bygone days in the
. his long-to-be-remembered contests with Calvin-
ism. The bishop well remembered the text of a sermon
delivered by the doctor, to which the speaker listened
when young in hi- native town. The i
it, editor of the Christian Advocate, and as
an author were felicitously dwelt upon, the bishop re-
marking that in his episcopal visitations from Maine to
408 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Texas he found Dr. Bangs's books in nearly every Meth-
odist library. The speaker alluded to the great age at-
tained by the worthy subject of the evening's gathering,
its serenity, and the many blessings with which Provi-
dence surrounded it. Dr. Bangs was an exception to a
peculiar characteristic of old men ; they frequently were
the fault-finders with progress, dwelling on the good
days that were gone. Not so with the addressed ; he
favored progress. A head white with the snows of many
winters, but a young heart, were his.
"After Bishop Janes ended his remarks, the Rev.
Thomas Carlton, the main-spring of this delightful move-
ment, took the chair — he stood in one — and added his
testimony to that of Bishop Janes as to the moral worth,
ministerial usefulness, and purity of Dr. Bangs ; spoke of
his instructions from the pulpit, and from his pen. He
said that his numerous friends had determined to present
him with a (what the speaker called trifling, but some
may deem considerable, to wit, two thousand dollars) tes-
timonial of their respect ; that he thought a staff or cane
would be very comfortable for him in his declining
years ; when the doctor was young he could get along
without one, but now his old age called for a staff; that
this (which Mr. Carlton held up) was a very expensive
one — it cost two thousand dollars.
"The venerable recipient of the gift was well nigh
overcome by his feelings, and his tears at first prevented
a response. However, he soon recovered from his emo-
tions, and in a very distinct and audible voice said he
truly felt he deserved not the praises bestowed on him,
and he was thankful they did not puff him up. He
knew his weaknesses and infirmities ; was thankful to his
friends for thus having remembered him, and he received
the gift as further proof of God's goodness to him. He
stated that he had been fifty-eight years an active minis-
ter of the Cross, and for that long period the Great Dis-
poser of events had signally blessed him, and he still
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 409
found his heavenly Father was remembering and encir-
cling him with many loving friends.
" Dr. M'Clintock then lined the following verses :
" ' Blest are the sons of peace,
Whose hearts and hopes are one ;
Whose kind designs to serve and please
Through all their actions run.
" ' Thus on the heavenly hills
The saints are blessed above,
Where joy like morning dew distills,
And all the air is love.'
" This was sung in a familiar tune with good will and
sonorously. Dr. M'Clintock then made a prayer exactly
fit for the occasion. During the services many faces
were bedewed with tears, and hearty amens resounded
through the rooms.
" The rest of the evening was pleasantly spent in talk
and mutual salutations among old friends, meeting each
other after, in some cases, years of separation. It must
not be omitted that a bountiful supply of ice-cream and
other delicacies were furnished to the guests. The cane
spoken of is of ebony, quite large, and hollow, and con-
tained four hundred five dollar gold pieces. Thus passed
one of the pleasantest incidents of my life's journey. With
the best of poets, (changing one word,) when my eyes
rested on the placid features of Dr. Bangs I exclaimed:
11 'Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
That hast so long walked hand and hand with time ;
■- reverend preacher, I am glad to clasp thee.'
" Although there were so many contributors, each be-
ing limited to ten dollars, it is worthy of particular no-
tice that the surprise was a real one to the doctor's
household."
The last entry but one in his journal is on his birth-
day. He writes in a scarcely legible hand : " May 2,
1860. — This day I am eighty-two years of age. My
health and strength have much improved within two or
410 LIFE AND TIMES OF
three years past, for which I desire to praise God. My
peace flows like a river, and I feel contented with my
lot in the world." Such was the genuine Christian
" philosophy " of the patriarch as the evening shades
closed quietly around him.
D.D. 411
CHAPTER XXVIII.
LAST DAYS.
"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for
the end of that man is peace." The current of life
which we have thus traced — beginning in the turbulent
if not turbid restlessness of youth ; sweeping with widen-
ing and majestic course and bearing many a precious
freight through middle age ; declining with still broader
and profounder, though more tranquil stream, toward its
end — is about to glide out peacefully and radiantly into
the limitless ocean.
" The years of Dr. Bangs's superannuation, since
1852," writes Dr. M'CUntock, "have been anything but
idle. Besides numerous contributions to the various
periodicals of the Church, he has published several books
during that time — among them the ' Condition, Pros-
pects, and Responsibilities of the Methodist Episcopal
Church,' 18mo. ;* 'Letters on Sanctification,' 18mo. ;
* There is a slight error of date here. I find the following list of
his publications among Dr. Bangs's manuscripts : " 1809, A small pam-
phlet against the Christians, so-called, a copy of which is not to be
found; 181o, The Errors of Ilopkinsianism; 1817, Predestination Exam-
ined; 1818, Eeformer Eeformed ; 1820, Vindication of Methodist
Episcopacy — this year I was elected editor and Book Agent; 1829, Life
of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson ; 1 ■ y of Missions; 1835,
Letters to a Young Preacher ; 1836, The Original Church of Christ ;
1839, The first volume of the History of the Method ! Church;
1841, The fourth and last volume of the History of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church; 1848, Emancipation : ■ State and Responsibility
of the Methodist Episcopal Church; 1851, Letters on Sanctification;
A Life of Arminius. In addition to these, several sermons, one on the
Dedication of the John-street Churc neral Sermon of Dr.
Adam Clarke, 1882; Funeral Sermon of Dr. Pisk, 1889; Centenary of
Methodism, 1639; On the Division of the New York Conference, 1843."
412 LIFE AND TIMES OF
and an ' Essay on Emancipation,' 8vo. This last named
work treats briefly of the history of slavery, and of its
introduction into this country, and proposes a plan for its
removal ; the substance of which is, that ' Congress
make a proposition to the several slave states that so
much per head shall be allowed for every slave that
shall be emancipated, leaving it to the state legislatures
respectively to adopt their own measures for effecting
the object.' The objections to this plan are next con-
sidered ; and then follows an array of motives to eman-
cipation, strong enough, one would think, to rouse all
but the dead to the importance of the task. The book
is written in a most earnest spirit, but in language sin-
gularly calm and moderate, furnishing an excellent
model, in this respect, for all who write on either side
of this exciting question. In these later writings of Dr.
Bangs there is no diminution of vigor in style or of
independence in thought." With the exception of his
brief residence at Middletown, Conn., he lived about
forty-five years in New York city and Brooklyn. " No
figure has been," adds Dr. M'Clintock, " better known
in the streets of the great city than his; no name stands
in higher repute. His unspotted life, his simplicity of
character, his earnest devotion to goodness and truth,
and his no less earnest hatred of wrong, have gained
him the love and esteem of all denominations of Chris-
tians in New York; while his intellectual force and
energy have left their mark upon the moral condition of
the city."
" His old age," says Bishop Janes, " was beautiful.
Exempt from official cares, surrounded by warm and
sympathizing friends, in the society of his dutiful and
affectionate children, who delighted to minister to his
comfort and pleasure, his declining years passed serenely
and sweetly away. Like the descending sun in the
western sky, disrobed of his meridian splendors and
deprived of his noontide fervor, unclouded, full-orbed,
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 413
with mellow radiance we see him slowly and serenely
descending to the horizon of life. Most enchanting was
the moral beauty with which his cheerful, holy old age
was invested."
Unlike most old men, he was, to the last, progressive
in his views, lie sympathized with all well-considered
measures for the improvement of his Church. To him
its history was all providential, and the very necessity
of changes was the gracious summons of providence for
it to arise and shine still brighter. He was especially
zealous to promote the powers and activity of the laity
in the affairs of his own denomination. His hearty, reso-
lute love of his friends and his cause was one of the strong-
est, noblest traits of the venerable and war-worn hero. It
made him as lovable as he was loving. His old age seemed
to mellow rather than wither his generous dispositions.
He was always deeply devout, but with advanced years
he seemed to attain advanced heights of Christian expe-
rience and consolation. The Pauline doctrine of sancti-
fication, as defined by Wesley, became, as we have seen,
his habitual theme of interest and conversation. He
seemed to take increasingly cheerful views of life, and of
the prospects of the kingdom of God in the world, as he
approached the end of his career. His last sermon was
on the certain triumph of the Gospel. There was no
querulousness in his temper, no repining in his conver-
sation at the changes which were displacing him from
public view, no invidious comparison of the present with
former times.
* LAST ILLNESS HIS DEPARTURE.
"His lasl illness was of six weeks and three (lays' du-
ration. The greater part of the time his sufferings were
aeute. But his resignation and fortitude and patience
failed him. lie was favored with the lull p< isses-
sion of his mental faculties to the last, [f there was
any exception to this it was simply from lethargy, which
414 LIFE AND TIMES OF
sometimes overcame him, but from which he was easily
roused.
" His religious consolations during his illness were
abundant, and at times his joys ecstatic. He remarked
to a brother minister that he felt that his work was all
done ; he was only waiting for his Lord, and could rest
till he came. To another minister he said :
"'The promised land, from Pisgah's top,
I now exult to see;
My hope is full (0 glorious hope 1)
Of immortality.'
Then with emphasis repeated, ' I now exult to see.'
Then again, ' I now exult to see.'
" One afternoon a friend, who spent much time with
him and ministered to him in his sickness, entered his
room. He exclaimed: *0 sister! what a manifestation
I had yesterday afternoon. It was glorious. The pres-
ence of Jesus was in this room, and it was all light and
luminous.' The next time this friend called he referred
to the circumstance again. Raising both hands, he ex-
claimed: 'It has lighted up the entire way to heaven.'
At another time, speaking to the same person, he said :
1 That glorious manifestation was unlike anything I ever
expected to witness in heaven above or earth beneath.'
She asked, i Tell me, doctor, what it was like.' ' Don't
ask me,' he replied, ' for I could not find language to
tell you; but it has brightened up everything. My
way is clear into heaven. What infinite condescen-
sion ! Boundless mercy ! Jesus is very precious, un-
speakably precious !'
" He spoke to many others of this special revelation
of the glory of God to him, and always seemed, when
referring to it, to be filled with unutterable joy.
" On the 9th of April his Conference held its annual
session in Waterbury, Conn. I think it was the only
time of his absence for sixty years. As soon as organ-
D.D. 415
ized, it sent him by telegram their affectionate greetings
in the Lord.
" The next day the Conference received from Lemuel
Bangs, Esq., the following telegram :
" '^ly father received the greeting of the Conference
very gratefully, and dictated the following answer:
"The Lord is good. I have received such an over-
whelming sense of his goodness as I cannot express, and
it remains with me yet."'
" During all this blessed experience he was careful to
ascribe his salvation to Christ. To one friend he quoted
writh tears o£ joy this verse :
11 ' 0 Love ! thou bottomless abyss,
My sins are swallowed up in thee;
Covered is my unrighteousness,
Nor spot of guilt remains on me,
While "Jesus' blood, through earth and skies,
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries.'
" A friend who- watched by him one night heard him
say : ' Blessed Jesus, how good thou art ! It is all of
mercy. O yes ! with Wesley I can say, " I am damned ;
but Jesus died and lives again. Because he lives, I shall
live, also." '
" These are a few of his utterances during his last ill-
ness, showing how he gloried in the cross of Christ, and
how ecstatic was his religious joy.
" During the night preceding his death his daughter
said to hijn, 'Father, God is love.' Utterance had
failed him. With most expressive signs he showed that
he understood her, and that he was enraptured with the
truth. This was his last intelligible communication to us
while in the body."
On Saturday morning Bishop Janes called and found
him too lethargic for conversation. He stepped into
an adjacent apartment to see the aged consort of
the doctor, who herself has long been a Bufferer by
chronic illness. On his return he observed a <hanp;o in
416 LIFE AND TIMES OF
the countenance of the venerable patient, which indi-
cated the commencement of the final struggle. The
struggle extended over a half hour, and then, at a quarter
before ten o'clock in the morning, and in the midst of
the assembled family, he .expired without pain, without a
groan, without convulsive motion, and probably without
consciousness — literally fell asleep — the normal death of
good old age, and a Christian exit — one day after his
eighty-fourth birthday.
FUNERAL.
" The funeral took place," says the New York " Meth-
odist," "on Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, in St.
Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church. It was crowded.
Rev. Drs. Tyng, (Protestant Episcopal,) De Witt, (Dutch
Reformed,) Spring, (Presbyterian,) Reicher, (Moravian,)
Rev. Messrs. Clark, (New York East Conference,) Rich-
ardson, (New York Conference,) Porter, (Newark Con-
ference,) President Cummings, (New England Confer-
ence,) Cook and Kenny, (deputed from the Philadelphia
Preachers' Meeting,) were the pall-bearers, and a large
number of his brethren in the ministry were in attend-
ance. The services at the church were a Voluntary by
the choir ; reading of Scripture lessons by Rev. Dr. Ste-
vens ; prayer by Rev. Dr. Osbon ; hymn read by Rev.
Dr. Carlton ; sermon by Rev. Bishop Janes."
Hundreds gazed for the last time on the beloved
face in the coffin before the altar. He was theif conveyed,
followed by a numerous procession of carriages, to Green-
wood Cemetery, where he rests in the family in closure.
At the latter place the funeral service was read by Rev.
Dr. Hagany. This part of the solemnities was pecul-
iarly impressive. The grave is on the summit of a
hillock, amid some of the finest scenery in the cemetery.
The hour was that of sunset ; the slant rays flooded the
surrounding foliage with softened hues ; quiet was falling
on all things, while the solemn utterance of the impressive
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 417
ritual Beemed to pass with peculiar distinctness through
the neighboriDg glens, already reposing in the twilight.
Ae the assembly retired the sun sank below the horizon,
and the heavens, to the very zenith, glowed with the
most magnificent variegations of light. Never has it
been our privilege to record a move blessed death, or
re beautifully impressive obsequies than those of this
" Prince and great man fallen in Israel."
Many aged heads of lay as well as clerical Method-
ista could be seen in the assembly at St. Paul's. Among
them was that of the venerable Laban Clark, who had
come from Middletown, Conn., to follow his old friend
to the grave. " Precisely fifty years ago this month,"
remarked this veteran, "the first Delegated Gen-
eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was
held in this city ; Dr. Bangs and myself were delegates ;
I am now the only Xew York Conference delegate who
remains. Daniel Webb is the only Xew England dele-
gate alive, and the Xew England Conference then in-
cluded all Xew England, except its Avestern margin,
which belonged to Xew York Conference. I do not
know of one surviving delegate from the Philadelphia
oference, which then comprehended Xew Jersey; of
the delegates of the large Baltimore Conference, Henry
dth, of 'Pilgrims' Rest,' alone lives. The only other
survivors, so far as I know, are Bishops Soule and Early
and Dr. Lovick Pierce, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South." Dr. Laban Clark is bnt a few months
younger than Dr. Bangs; he preceded \h\ Bangs in the
inistry about one year; he is enjoying a green old
and may remain some year- yet — one of the last rem-
nants of that primitive Methodist ministry which has
been called i
HIS « i!Ai:.\. :
The pulpits and papei Methodist Church, and.
the "the country generally, noticed the departure
418 % LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the aged citizen and Christian, with emphatic eulogies
on his long and effective life. The Missionary Board
published a grateful testimony of his services as one of
its founders and most assiduous colaborers; and its
periodical organ said : " From the time he entered the
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1 802, ' he
was clad with zeal as a cloak.' Our melancholy province ,
this day is to make a record of his relation to the Mis-
sionary Society, as the author of the Constitution under
which it was organized on the 5th of April, 1819, as the
author of the first Address and Circular which it issued
to the Church, and as its steadfast friend and laborer
until called to enter his Master's joy.
" At the time of its organization he was elected the
third Vice-president, Bishops George and Roberts being
the first and second. In the course of a year or two he
succeeded Joshua Soule as the Treasurer of the Society.
In April, 1836, he was elected the fourth Vice-presi-
dent and Corresponding Secretary; in 1838 the resident
Corresponding Secretary. In 1840 he was one of three
corresponding secretaries, Rev. Dr. Capers and Rev. E.
R. Ames being associated with him, one for the South,
the other for the West. In 1841, removing temporarily
from the city, his active connection was suspended. Up
to this time it is probable he had written every one of
the Annual Reports. In 1848 we find him again taking
an active part in the doings of the Society, which he con-
tinued to do down to the monthly meeting in February
last. It is supposed that he never missed a meeting,
when in the city, from the very first, except on account
of sickness.
" The receipts of the treasurer for the first year were
$823 04 ; the amount for the year 1861 was $250,374 93 ;
the total amount of receipts from the beginning to the
day of his death was $4,569,094 95.
"In 1819 we had no missions to those of a foreign
tongue, but now our general summary shows under that
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 419
head 31 G missionaries and 28,458 Church-members. He
commenced his course as a missionary himself to Can-
ada, and was sent to the Bay of Quinte, when there
were but 1,500 members and nine ministers besides him-
self in that country, all of whom preceded him in the
passage over Jordan. Xow the Canada Wesleyans
alone number 53,564 members and 476 ministers, and
there are also 18,250 members and ministers of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church in Canada. The total number of
members in the Methodist Episcopal Church in America
when he entered the ministry was 72,874, and of minis-
ters 358. The total number of members at his death is,
including the probationers, (without any reference to
those Churches which have gone out from us,) 988,523,
and of ministers, effective and superannuated, 6,984.
4 What hath God wrought!' This prince and great
man in our Israel not only started with our Society, be-
ing one of its principal founders, but has ever been our
missionary standard-bearer. Xo mission has been started
but has either been originated by him or had his hearty
approval and zealous support. No man could more
properly say, though no one would be less likely, to say
it of himself, 'The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.' "
'• I have known him for upward of half a century,"
writes Francis Hall, Esq., " and my recollections of him
are of the most pleasing character. He was perhaps as
well known among other denominations as any of our
preachers since the days of Asbury. lie was a man of
prayer, and full of faith in the promises of God. I re-
member he made me a visit during a sickness in which
many believed I should not recover. I had been visited
by several old friends of the John-street congregation,
and were leaving my chamber Dr. Bangs en-
tered. Be conversed with me, closing frith pnr
l 1-. Mrs. Hall : 'Mr. Hall will
recover.' I heard the remark, and my conviction was
immediately, the prayer will be answered. It was so :
420 LIFE AND TIMES OF
from that moment I recovered. He was a model of
punctuality, whether he had to fill the pulpit or at-
tend any of the societies. No weather prevented his
presence, and a meeting did not wait for a quorum in
consequence of his absence."
It would be superfluous to extend this volume with
any particular summary of his life and character. Both
have been sufficiently delineated, in the course of our
narrative. The institutions he founded, or helped to
found, and the productions of his pen, are his monuments.
If most of his literary works may not take permanent
rank, it will be because they were written for immediate
utility, to meet cotemporary wants, and are there-
fore, by their very adaptations to their purpose, less
adapted to the demands of the future. His robust mind
was always practical, and direct in its aims. He did the
work of the hour for the wants of the hour, and to have
done otherwise, by an anticipation of the future, would
have rendered his work less effective, though it might
have rendered it more durable.
In literature his name will be chiefly recognized for
his History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in four
volumes, completed in 1841. It was a book for the
times, if not for all time. Methodism had now reached
numerical supremacy as a form of Protestantism in the
nation. Its schemes, domestic and foreign — ecclesiasti-
cal, educational, and literary — had become gigantic ; but
though now the predominant religious fact and interest
of the country, its history was unwritten. The publicist,
the scholar, the churchman, concerned to know its real
character, had no adequate historical resource for such
information. Lee's history was an early production ; it
could claim no historic rank whatever; it could only
afford assistance, and that very limited, to a more capable
hand. With but this very imperfect example, Dr.
Bangs undertook the task of preparing a full history of
his Church, from the introduction of Methodism into the
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 421
new world down to the year which preceded the publi-
cation of his last volume. None but he who has at-
tempts! a similar task can conceive of its difficulties — its
perple arisome research in manuscript documents,
in periodical publications, in scattered, meager books of
biography, journals of ministerial travel, controversial
pamphlets, in Minutes of Annual Conferences for sixty-
seven years, proceedings of General Conferences for
forty-four years, in personal or local manuscript data,
procured by correspondence from all parts of the country.
And then the study, the collocation, the harmonization
of these often conflicting materials, the delicate care
requisite for the personal feelings and reputations of living
a in the long and varied scene, or of the sympathies
amilies of its deceased actors — such are
some of the difficulties we must bear in mind in estimat-
es important service. As it was to be really the
"history" of the Church, it must of necessity be
largely a documentary compilation, for the most impor-
tant documents upon which it was to be founded had not
yet been published. This fact lias given character to the
work. It includes in its text whole "reports" of public
bodies, rolls of names, large extracts of "Minutes." It
could hardly have been satisfactorily prepared otherwise.
It is thus an invaluable repertory of historical materials.
Documentary histories of the kind must necessarily pre-
cede any artistic or philosophic historical literature, wheth-
er of States or Churches. He prepared it, as he did all
her writings, for the actual necessity of his Church.
plished his purpose, and accomplished it better
by far than he could have done by attempting a more
artistic work. As a historian of the Church he will be
immortal; he must forever in- acknowledged as the prin-
cipal authority of all future historical writers on Ameri-
can Methodism, and if his volum to be the
al <>f our history, his name must never-
- an authority in the
422 LIFE AND TIMES OF
ginal acknowledgments of writers who may super-
sede him.
Bishop Janes, who knew him most intimately for many
years, says : " His mind was comprehensive, vigorous,
versatile, and eminently practical. Rental honesty was
his crowning glory. In all his discussions he employed
no metaphysical subtleties, no sophistries, but candidly
looked every question in the face, and met it in a direct,
frank, ingenuous manner.
uHis moral characteristics were beautiful. He was
ardent, affectionate, sympathetic, and constant ; an earn-
est, honest, public-spirited man ; a true, abiding friend ;
a loving, devoted husband, and an affectionate and faith-
ful parent.
" His Christian excellences were many and great. His
experience was deep and positive. He enjoyed an abid-
ing consciousness of the favor of God. His devotement
to God was full and joyous. He counted everything but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
the Lord. It was his constant aim to magnify Christ,
and evidently his spiritual life was hid with Christ in
God. He seemed always to be forgetting the things
which were behind, and pressing toward the mark of his
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Practically he was
an ' example of the believers in word, in conversation,
in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity-'
" He was a Methodist from conviction and preference.
He honestly and heartily embraced the doctrines, and
cordially approved the ecclesiastical economy of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. These profound convic-
tions of the scriptural character of her doctrines and
polity made him a staunch defender of the Church of his
choioe. This zeal for the Methodistic form of Christian-
ity sometimes involved him in earnest controversies with
persons of other Churches. He said to me during his
last illness: 'I have had many sharp controversies. I
have sometimes used strong and, perhaps, harsh Ian-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 423
guage, but I never had a bitter spirit.' Dr. Bangs, with
all bis attachment to Methodism, was one of the most
catholic Christian men in spirit and sympathies I ever
knew. He was always ready to say from the heart,
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity."
Down to his last sickness very little decay of his mental
faculties was discernible. His conversations, his ad-
dresses in social religious meetings, his occasional writ-
ings for periodicals, continued to show much of his old
vigorous judgment, his manly sense, his direct, honest
utterance. If less attention to style, than in his earlier
years, might sometimes be apparent, the old sound head
and sound heart remained. His last sermon was preached
at Seventeenth-street Methodist Episcopal Church; be
sat at a table in the altar while delivering it. It
was heard by nearly all the congregation ; it required
considerable effort of memory in the citation of statistical
facts, but there was no faltering of even that faculty.
The whole discourse was characterized by the warm,
strong, demonstrative qualities of his earlier preaching.
In person Dr. Bangs was tall, robust, but not corpu-
lent ; with a high indented brow, crowned for many
years with silvered locks. His eyes were small, and
somewhat deeply set; his complexion fresh, and often
flushed by a determination of blood to the head ; his
voice was peculiar — a sort of double voice, which he at-
tributed, as we have seen, to an injury of his Lungs by
his early preaching and exposure, after a serious illness.
In its finer notes it had a silvery melody, but in its
stronger tones there was a hoarse roughne-< which, with
his robust attitude and flushed aspi - gave
to the hearer, especially in controversial discussions, a
false impression that he was irritable in temper. There
-. temper, mettle in his manly and vigor-
iature; no man could show a nobler indignation
-t anything unrighteous or mean; nu man could
424: LIFE AND TIMES OF
speak more unflinchingly or directly to the very face and
teeth of a pretentious, an evasive, or disingenuous disput-
ant, but no man ever had a more genial heart, a more in-
stinctive sympathy with whatever is generous, heroic, or
tender. His friendships were as steadfast as adamant.
His whole nature was vigorous ; he was robust in intel-
lect, in soul, and in body. He had his faults, and, like
everything else in his strong nature, they were strongly
marked. But if he was abrupt sometimes in his replies,
or emphatic in his rebukes, no man was ever more ready
to retract an undeserved severity, or acknowledge a mis-
take. This excellence was as habitual with him as it is
rare with most men.
For some years the late Dr. Francis, his friend and
" the last of the Knickerbockers ;" Dr. Spring, his still
surviving friend, and himself, have been the three most
notable representatives among us of the elder New York.
No form has been more familiar, more venerated in our
assemblies, or on our streets, than that of Nathan Bangs.
The early Methodists, remnants of whom are still scat-
tered, with gray heads and tottering frames, among our
numerous Churches, felt that he continued to be, in an
endearing sense, their eld pastor, the pastor of their
fathers and of their childhood. Their decayed eyes
glistened whenever he appeared in their pulpits, and
their trembling hands grasped his, with the ardor of
earlier years, when he passed down their aisles. He fell
among them, almost the last primitive pillar of the struc-
ture of Methodism; to them, then, more than ever, "old
things had passed away ; behold ! all things had become
new ;" and more than ever did they then feel that they
too must go hence, that their " company had gone be-
fore," and they themselves " desired to depart*"
The final estimate of such a man is not difficult. If
we cannot award to him the greatness of what is called
genius, we cannot deny him the greatness of an effective
life — a life of inestimable effectiveness. Nor can we at-
NATHAN BANGS, D.D. 425
tribute his effectiveness merely to what are culled cir-
cumstances. Circumstances are, perhaps, as requisite for
the success of genius as for that of any other ability.
Genius, so-called, has usually peculiar infirmities, requir-
ing peculiar incentives and supports. It is not the lack
of available circumstances that subjects so much of
human life to inferiority or mediocrity, but the lack of
moral dispositions to use rightly actual circumstances.
There are few public positions, especially such as the
Christian teacher or preacher occupies, which might not
be rendered superior or distinguished if sustained by
proper moral dispositions, aside from any extraordinary
intellectual powers. The circumstances necessary for
success art seldom if ever wanting to the man of earnest
conscience and resolute purpose. lie is the great man
who, though of ordinary talents, energetically avails
himself of his circumstances ; he the yet greater man
who, in lack of favorable circumstances, creates them,
and then avails himself of them. Nathan Bangs did
both. A profoundly religious conscience, tireless in-
dustry, unwavering perseverance, the ready acceptance
of the duty of the day or the hour, whatever it
be — these, inspirited by a fervent religious zeal, rather
than by what is vaguely called the inspiration of genius,
characterized his life. And they made that life genuinely
great — great in goodness, the supreme greatness; but
great also in what is conventionally, but fallaci
sidered still superior greatness — great in practical suc-
cess, i* was not, therefore, by convenient accident or
"good fortune" that he became prominently connected
with so many Christian achievements of our century,
achievement^ which promise to shed ever-increasing
upon his grave. Doubtless there were many men
in the mi; his Church during his day wh
intellectual powers or ■_ i his own
who among them ha- had a superior life a life more
nit with sal itary results? Th
426 LIFE AND TIMES OF NATHAN BANGS, D.D.
to the question is obvious, and its legitimate lesson is too
obvious to need a further word of comment.
Singularly effective, definitive, and symmetrical in his
life — in the struggles and self-discipline of his youth, the
activity and success of his manhood, the sanctity . and
peace of his old age — we take our leave of him at the
grave, assured that it has been good for the world that
he lived, and good for us that we have traced the lessons
of his life.
THE END.
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