Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

Brother Grumley was a man of small frame and apparently of feeble health, yet he was able to do effective work to the last. He had a sound head, and a heart equally sound. He was a good Preacher, and a superior Pastor. Revivals usually attended his labors, and he was always highly esteemed by the people.

The meeting at Fond du Lac immediately followed the one at Sheboygan Falls. With my family I left the latter place in time to reach Fond du Lac at noon on Saturday. But through detention I was just driving into the city as the bell was ringing for the service. Hastily caring for my horse, I went immediately to the Church. Before the services were concluded, I saw evident assurances that the Pastor had been making careful preparation for the work before us. The opening sermon was addressed to the Church, and found a ready and hearty response. Before the Quarterly Meeting had passed, it was manifest that a glorious revival was impending. Seekers of religion came to the Altar and found a prepared Church to lead them to Christ. The meeting went on from night to night, and before the end of the week, each night brought scores of seekers. The good Pastor was now at home. In prayer, in exhortation, and in labor at the side of the seeker, he was a tower of strength. Among the laity there were also several excellent laborers, who rendered valuable services in the meeting. The revival reached all classes, from youth to old age, and gave to the Church many reliable accessions.

At the beginning, sister Churches joined largely in the meeting, but as the work extended among their people, they opened meetings at their own places of worship. The change, however, did not check the revival. It swept on through the community, and all the Churches shared in the harvest of souls.

During this year Sheboygan was also favored with a revival. Rev. N.J. Aplin, the Pastor, came to Wisconsin during the previous year. He came from Western New York, where he had been engaged in business, bringing a note of introduction from Rev. Moses Miller, my uncle, who had been for several years his neighbor. I employed him at once, for the balance of the year, at Charlestown, a new charge that I had just formed. He was admitted on trial at the ensuing Conference, and appointed to Sheboygan.

After leaving Sheboygan, Brother Aplin's appointments have been: Manitowoc, Waukesha, Brookfield, Watertown, Beaver Dam, Oconomowoc, Berlin, Geneva, Sun Prairie, Sharon, and Clemensville. At the last named place, he is still rendering the cause effective service. Brother Aplin has been a successful man, and has seen, at various times, extensive revivals under his labors. He is a man who "seeks not his own but the things of Christ."

At Sheboygan he was assisted in his meeting by Fay H. Purdy, Esq., of Palmyra, N.Y., with whom he had enjoyed an acquaintance in the East. Brother Purdy had already become distinguished as the "Lawyer Evangelist." Under the united labors of these devoted and earnest men, there was a great quickening in the Church, and though the population of the town was largely German, there was an accession to the Church of forty members.

It was during this Conference year the celebrated Greenbush Camp Meeting was held. The meeting was held in June, 1854. The people came in great numbers, and many of them were fresh from their revivals at home. On invitation, Brother Purdy came to the meeting and brought with him, from Western New York, Rev. Amos Hard, Seth H. Woodruff, Esq., and several others. The meeting was one of great power. Large numbers of professing Christians entered into a new consecration to God, and many souls professed conversion. Throughout the week, the meetings continued to increase in spiritual interest, but culminated in the services of Sunday night. After the close of the sermon, seekers were invited to the Altar. Then followed prayers, singing, and Christian testimony without intermission, until the morning light broke upon the encampment. The prayers of the penitent and the shouts of the saved greeted every hour of the night. The voices of prayer and song did not cease until the meeting was closed on Monday.

Nor did the formal closing of the services in the grove close the meeting. It was now adjourned to the school house in the village, where the services were continued with unflagging interest. But there now came an interchange of labor. Whenever it was necessary to look after domestic affairs, the meeting was left in the hands of others, and on returning its duties were again resumed. Thus by these changes there was no cessation of the meeting throughout Monday, Monday night, and a portion of the following day. This meeting is still referred to with great interest by those who were permitted to participate in its thrilling exercises.

The Pastor of Greenbush at this time was Rev. A.M. Hulce. He was a young man in the work, having been received into the Conference at its last session. Both himself and good lady were fully engaged in the work, and greatly assisted in perfecting the arrangements for the meeting. Brother Hulce was a well-read man, a good thinker, and earnestly devoted to his work, but his health was not equal to the toil and exposures of the Itinerancy. After laboring a few years he was compelled to retire to the local ranks, in which position he still holds an honorable place.

Other charges than those mentioned also shared in the revivals of the year, giving a net result for the District of nearly one thousand conversions. My labors throughout the year were severe, making an average of nearly seven sermons per week.