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BATTLE CREEK BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
He preached for the little "church which he had thus gathered until it was taken, much augmented, under the fostering care of the Michigan conference. At the same time he maintained an appointment in South Battle Creek, and in after years at various other places, wherever he could find an open door. In short he was abundant in labors until age disqualified him from active service. His manner of preaching was earnest and incisive; he shunned not to declare "the whole counsel of God" as he understood it. In 1843, being dissatisfied with the position assumed by the M. E. church with reference to slavery, he severed his connection with that church, and joined the Wesleyan church, of which he was an honored member at the time of his decease. As a pioneer, he did his full share in subduing the wilderness and moulding the discordant elements of a new country into orderly and harmonious communities. He was acquainted with, and a colaborer of, those worthy men so ably sketched by Mr. Van Buren, in his "reminiscences. " Several of them were his intimate friends. Politically he was an Abolitionist. He fought earnestly the battle of liberty when it cost something to be the friend of the slave. His sympathies went out toward the suffering and oppressed of all lands. He felt with the poet that his
"Country was the wide, wide world, His countrymen, mankind. "
In his intercourse with others he was social and genial. He is remembered as a faithful husband, a loving father, an obliging neighbor and a good man. While we speak thus of his virtues, we can but feel that his best eulogy is the life he lived among men. By his works, he being dead, yet speaketh.
On the morning of the day of his death he rose from his bed, feeling unusually well and cheerful; remarked to the family that he had not had so sweet a night's rest for a long time. During the forenoon he was singing at times favorite hymns. About three o'clock p. m., after amusing himself with his little grandchild, he went to his own room, took a large Bible, seated
himself in his favorite arm-chair, placed the book upon his knees, and was last seen reading.
Michigan
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