History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

and in the States, from the Ulster Circuit in New York to Detroit in Michigan. He was one of the
original members of the Genesee Conference, and one of its first three presiding elders in 1810;
Draper and Ryan being the two others. For eighteen years he had charge of districts -- the Cayuga,
Oneida, Chenango, Lower Canada, Upper Canada, and Bay of Quinte. In 1828 he was appointed
superintendent of Indian missions and schools in Canada, and in 1830 general superintendent of the
Methodist societies in the province. During several years he was missionary to the Indians, when a
"sack, inclosed in a blanket, slung on the back by what was called a 'tumpline' across the shoulders,
and a gun, with a small store of powder, constituted an Indian preacher's outfit." In 1852 he was
allowed to travel and preach at large through the province till his death in 1855. He was esteemed
for years as the patriarch and leader of Canadian Methodism, the chief of its great mission field, a
truly apostolic man, fervid, genial, prudent, attractive and effective in the pulpit, singularly
successful and beloved among the Indians. He was instrumental in the conversion of hundreds of the
latter, and equally useful among the whites, and was especially conspicuous in a general revival in
1808, "when the voice of prayer and praise was heard by day and night in the houses and barns, in
the fields and woods, all over the country." Canadian Methodism mostly grew up during his ministry
in the province, and he lived to see it represented by three hundred and thirty itinerants, scattered
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over two hundred and ten Circuits. "He was," says a Canadian authority, "the director of the rising
ministry of the Methodist Church in Canada before she had a college in which to train them, and he
was the friend of that institution from the moment it was projected to the day of his death, watching
its progress and doings with the most lively interest. He would sometimes talk about 'his boys' in the
pulpit in a way that set the young aspirants to usefulness weeping around him. Little children; too,
he loved, and took a great interest in their schools. On this account he was a welcome visitant in the
various families whose hospitality he enjoyed. The little Indian children, even, would literally pluck
his clothes, 'to share the good man's smile.' Nor did they fail in their object. He would often pursue
these tawny little ones, and, catching them, would kiss them with all the fondness imaginable."
In 1806 Canada has two districts, and twelve circuits, including two pertaining to New York
Conference. Samuel Coate is at Montreal, and Nathan Bangs at Quebec. A Lower Canada District
appears in the Minutes, and a mission to its French population is added to the appointments. Thomas
Whitehead, a Wesleyan preacher of Nova Scotia, but born in the United States, is added to the little
ministerial corps, and also Andrew Prindle, the second native Canadian itinerant. The first, Sylvanus
Keeler, locates, but continues through his life to promote effectively his Church. They were the
beginning of a powerful native ministry, which in a few years was to render Canadian Methodism
independent of foreign laborers. In 1808 the first report of members in Quebec appears; hardly more
than a single "class," thirteen in number. Methodism, however, was destined to find a stronghold in
that city, though long harassed by public prejudice, and the coming war. In 1809 Detroit, Mich., is
reached by Case. Bangs had been defeated there, as we have seen, but the new itinerant met with
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better auspices. "The gospel spread fast," says the Canadian Methodist historian, "like fire through
dry stubble." Detroit continued to be, for years, an appointment of the Upper Canada District;
Methodist preachers took yet but little note of geographical demarcations, civil or physical; with
Wesley, they considered "the world to be their parish." In the same year the Three Rivers Circuit,
in Lower Canada, was reported, and traveled by Joseph Sampson, the third native Methodist
itinerant, though he now came from Baltimore Conference.