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

limits, when it will devolve upon the historian to show that not a few of the humblest of them were
men of heroic character, whose travels and labors, in many instances, extended through half a
century, and from Canada to Long Island Sound.
The appearance of Wilbur Fisk in the ministry in 1818, may be said to have dated a new epoch
in New England Methodism. A man of intrinsic greatness; of the highest style of Christian character;
of rare pulpit eloquence, full of grace, dignity, and power, he was also the first Methodist preacher
of the eastern states who had the advantages of a collegiate education; a fact of no little importance
among the people of New England. No man did more to redeem his Church from the imputation of
ignorance, not to say the contempt, with which it had been branded among the trained clergy of those
states; for, notwithstanding the ministerial competence and greatness of such men as Merritt, Ruter,
Soule, and Hedding, their commission had been generally discredited, beyond their own people, for
lack of academic diplomas. Fisk led up the whole Methodism of the East in educational enterprise,
ministerial culture, and public influence; while his saintly life presented a model of Christian
character, which impressed his entire denomination, not only in New England, but throughout all the
land, for his usefulness and reputation became national. He was born in Brattleborough, Vt., in
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1792, joined the Church in his eleventh year, and graduated with honor at Brown University,
Providence, R. I., in 1815. Like Emory, he abandoned the study of law for the itinerant ministry, in
1818, when he was sent by a presiding elder to Craftsbury Circuit, Vt. In 1819 and 1820 he was
stationed at Charlestown, Mass., where his health failed, and he was reported supernumerary till
1823, when he took charge of the Vermont District; but, in the third year of his presiding eldership,
was elected principal of the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass. In 1828 he was elected bishop
of the Canada Conference, but declined the appointment that he might mature his plans of Methodist
education in New England. In 1830 he was called to the presidency of the Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Conn., of which he was one of the founders. In 1835 his enfeebled health compelled
him to make a voyage to Europe, where he officially represented American Methodism in the
Wesleyan Conference. He was elected bishop of his Church while absent, but again declined the
episcopal office in favor of his function as an educator. Returning, he continued his labors in the
Wesleyan University with declining health, but unabated devotion, till his death. In all these
positions, beyond the limits of our present period, the history of the Church will recognize him as
one of the principals, if not indeed the principal representative of her great interests, a leader in her
General Conferences, a tireless promoter of her education, missions, and literature, an invincible
defender of her theology and polity, an orator in her pulpits and on her philanthropic platforms, a
saint in her calendar.
Wilbur Fisk's person bespoke his character. It was of good size, and remarkable for its symmetry.
His features were harmonious, the contour strongly resembling the better Roman outline. His eye
was nicely defined, and, when excited, beamed with a peculiarly benign and conciliatory expression.
His complexion was bilious, and added to the diseased indication of his somewhat attenuated
features. His head was a model not of great, but of well-proportioned development. It had the height
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of the Roman brow, though not the breadth of the Greek. His voice was peculiarly flexible and
sonorous. A catarrhal disease affected it; but just enough, during most of his life, to improve its tone
to a soft orotund, without a trace of nasal defect. It rendered him a charming singer, and was an
instrument of music to him in the pulpit. Without appearing to use it designedly for vocal effect, it