Phineas F. Bresee - A Prince In Israel - Media Sabda Org

Phineas F. Bresee
A PRINCE IN ISRAEL
By E. A. Girvin
CHAPTER 2
Removal to Iowa -- Quarterly Meeting at Millersburg --
Kosta Circuit -- Davy Jones' Locker -- Revival at Marengo -- Sent to Pella
Early in 1857, the father of Doctor Bresee, accompanied by his son-in-law, Giles H. Cowley, went
to Iowa, with the intention of moving there if they were pleased with the country. While there, they
bought a farm out on the prairie, after which the father returned to New York state, with the object
of coming to Iowa later with his family. The son-in-law remained in Iowa, where in June he was
joined by Phineas, the rest of the family removing there later in the summer, when they all settled
on the prairie and lived in a log house. Doctor Bresee described the scene as follows: "Oh, how
beautiful the prairies looked to me in June-- great stretches of them, with nothing but green grass and
flowers, waving in the breezes. I never will forget when I first saw those prairies. We lived there and
worked on the farm two or three months. My brother-in-law and I boarded at a place where it was
hard to get enough to eat, but we used to go out after dinner and eat watermelons and trout, and fill
up. It was just astonishing how much fun we had that summer. We used to say that once in awhile
the old lady where we boarded would try to have something extra, and that she kept an old rooster
there, and when she wanted to make chicken for us, she would take the old rooster and lead him
around a ditch, and when she wanted to make it extra good, she would lead him through. We lived
there and worked those months. Then my father and mother and sister came, and they lived there."
It was in the fall of 1857, that Phineas went on his first circuit. Their farm was about six or seven
miles west of Millersburg, on the road that went directly west through the state. The next town,
fourteen miles west of them, was Montezuma. Much of Iowa was a wilderness in those days, and
was unsettled prairie. Their home was along the fringes of civilization. Comparatively little religious
work was being done. Here and there a meeting was held in a schoolhouse or a private home. A
church was a rare thing, but there were a few scattered over the country, and in some of the towns.
A pressing demand existed for somebody to hold meetings, and Phineas immediately responded to
that demand. The people finding out that he was an exhorter, called on him to preach. Occasionally,
when he did not have a meeting at the church of which he was a member, he would go to
Millersburg, where at that time there was a Methodist class, and later he united with this class. I will
quote from Doctor Bresee as to this occasion: " On Saturday I went to the quarterly meeting. We
walked seven miles to Millersburg, through the dust and dirt of the road. I arrived towards night. The
Saturday morning meeting and the quarterly conference were both past. William Simpson, a distant
relative of Bishop Simpson--a second cousin I think--who was a man of sterling worth and character
and of good ability, was a frontier preacher at that time. He was one of the early preachers in Iowa,
and a great, strong fellow, six feet high, with black hair, and a big heart. He was the Presiding Elder.
I think that he had called upon the preacher to give the message on Saturday morning. He was telling
me about it, and he said that the sermon had one redeeming quality--it was short. But he insisted on
my preaching Saturday night. They had a custom in those days of appointing some boy preacher to
fill the pulpit on Saturday nights, at the quarterly meeting. I thought I had to do as I was told, so I
tried to preach. I preached from the text about the healing of the m an with the weak ankles, where