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

had had wisdom enough, I could have led him into the blessing, and thus impressed the whole of
Methodism in Southern California; but I did not; and yet, I was preaching holiness."
Appointed To Pasadena
At the meeting of the Annual Conference in 1886, Dr. Bresee was appointed to the First
Methodist Episcopal church in Pasadena, which at that time was a new town. A few years before it
had been a sheep ranch. A handful of men from Indiana, came and purchased a large tract of land
there, and looking around to find some beautiful descriptive name, called it "Pasadena," which
means "The Crown of the Valleys." They laid it off by making streets and avenues some half a mile
apart, and setting out small, scattered orchards of both deciduous and citrus fruits. For some time it
did not become much of a town, although a few houses were built on the tract; but along in the 80's
there began to be quite a center of small buildings at Colorado and Fair Oaks. Then, under the touch
of the boom which was on Southern California, it began to grow rapidly, and sprang into a village
and city almost as if it had been under the influence of Aladdin's lamp, as described in the fairy tales.
This cluster of buildings in 1886, was only a very small hamlet in the midst of the Pasadena tract,
but it was already under the impulse of the rising tide of immigration and prosperity. A little prior
to this, a small Methodist church had been erected on Orange Grove avenue, about two miles from
what seemed to be the central point of the village, when it began to take form; and only a short time
before this little church had been removed into the nucleus or cluster of buildings. There were about
one hundred and thirty members.
When Dr. Bresee was asked what he was going to do at Pasadena, he replied that, by the grace
of God, he would make a fire that would reach heaven. At that time the membership of the church
was considerably scattered, and the tide of religious life was not high. During the summer of 1886
the church had had union services with the other little churches around about. At the beginning of
Dr. Bresee's pastorate, a new structure had been commenced on Colorado street, where the Methodist
Episcopal church now stands. This building was then under way, and was completed the following
winter.
About Christmas the congregation moved into the building in an unfinished condition, and it was
dedicated in the spring of 1887, by Bishop Fowler.
Some weeks after Dr. Bresee's arrival in Pasadena, he began a protracted meeting. Already there
were many men employed in the building of houses, and he and his workers would hold meetings
at the corner of Fair Oaks and Colorado streets, only a short distance from the church. They would
first sing two or three hymns. This would gather a crowd of men, and after prayer, as soon as he
arose from his knees, Dr. Bresee would announce that they were to have a service in the church
nearby, and invite them to come. Then he and his little company would sing a hymn and march to
the church as rapidly as possible. The crowd would follow and fill the auditorium. During this
meeting there were forty conversions, and but one woman among them. The converts were men,
gathered together and brought into the church as a result of the brief meetings held on the street.
From that time on for four years, there was a constant tide of salvation.