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

their precious little one, they left Lewis in the afternoon, spent the night at the house of a friend, and
reached Des Moines late the next night. Little Lily died on the 7th of May, at the age of fifteen
months, leaving Brother and Sister Bresee with their eldest son Ernest, who at that time was a very
delicate boy. In December of the same year, 1865, Phineas W., the second son of Brother and Sister
Bresee, was born.
The Centennial Of Methodism
The year 1866, was the centennial of Methodism, and was celebrated all over the United States.
There was a great flame of enthusiasm throughout the Winterset District, and largely attended
meetings were held in groves and churches, celebrating the anniversary of the coming of Philip
Embury and Barbara Heck to New York, and the beginning of the work of Methodism in the United
States.
It was in the autumn of that year that Brother Bresee finished his work as Presiding Elder. He
persuaded Bishop Ames that it was not best for him to continue longer on the district, as he was
overtaxed physically. This condition was largely due to the irregularities in the way of diet, which
he was compelled to undergo. At the close of the evening meetings, he frequently had to go several
miles to a place of entertainment, and after arriving there was compelled to wait until supper was
prepared. After eating a late meal, he would snatch a few hours sleep, get up before daylight, and eat
breakfast by candle light. Then would come the early morning prayermeeting, the lovefeast at 9
o'clock, and the preaching at 10:30. After the regular morning service, the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was held, and the meeting generally would not close until after two o'clock in the afternoon.
Under these circumstances, Brother Bresee had no appetite for breakfast, was feeling faint when the
time came for him to preach, an d later on when dinner was finally ready, would be almost too weak
to eat. Still later in the day, out-of-door meetings were held in the grove, and the preaching there
seemed greatly beyond his strength.
A Pathetic Incident
At the conference in 1866, a very pathetic incident occurred. Arrangements had been made there,
as at all the other conferences, for a great anniversary of Methodism, and Dr. U. P. Golliday had been
selected to preach the anniversary sermon. He was a man of considerable eloquence and ability, and
was a cousin of Dr. Jos. H. Trimble, who, it seems, had the distinction of being the first man in this
country who had graduated from a distinctively Methodist college and subsequently entered the
Methodist ministry. His father was Governor Trimble, of Ohio. Joseph H. Trimble was present at
this conference, and between his family and that of Dr. Golliday, there had grown up in the past a
wide separation, which had much to do with Dr. Golliday's embarrassment on that occasion. A great
crowd had gathered, and Dr. Golliday took for his text: "A handful of corn in the top of the
mountains shaketh like Lebanon," etc. He spoke perhaps a dozen or twenty sentences, and stopped.
It seemed that everything was blank to him. He began at the beginning, and came right up to the
same place and stopped. The congregation sang a verse, and he commenced once more, but when
he reached the same point he again stopped. It was impossible for him to proceed, and putting his
face down on the Bible, he wept bitterly. His inability to remember even the outline of the sermon
he had prepared, was the more remarkable from the fact that he was an exceedingly fluent speaker,