Thirty Years in the ItinerancyMiller, W. G. (Wesson Gage)
Philosophy
Thirty Years in the Itinerancy
Miller, W. G. (Wesson Gage)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Wisconsin; Methodist Episcopal Church. Wisconsin Conference
While at Oneida, as before stated, he went East to raise funds for the
Mission. Wherever he went, he was recognized as a man of rare eloquence.
Throngs followed him from Church to Church, and, as might be expected,
his mission was a great success. On his return with the bell, the people
were overjoyed. For the first week after it was hung in the steeple, it
was kept going, almost night and day. The friends came from every part
of the reservation, and no one was satisfied until his own hand pulled
the rope. And so high did the enthusiasm run that one man said, "As soon
as we get able, we will put one on every house in Oneida." After Brother
Requa left Oneida, he served one year as Agent of Lawrence University,
and was specially engaged in raising an Indian Scholarship Fund. His
appointments subsequently were: Janesville, Fond du Lac District,
Oshkosh, Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan, Brandon and Ripon. In March, 1865,
his second year at Ripon, he went as a Delegate of the Christian
Commission to the army. His field of labor was Little Rock, Ark. While
here he was taken ill with the chronic diarrhoea, and on the 19th of May
departed to his home above. During his illness, he was attended by his
old friend, Brother A. B. Randall. Just before he died, he requested his
attendant to bear this message to his brethren of the Wisconsin
Conference: "Tell them that Henry Requa died at his post." He then
added, "Take my ashes back to be interred among my brethren. I have
labored with them for twenty years past, trying to preach Jesus. My
present acceptance with God is a great comfort to me now. I am very
unworthy, but I believe there are some in glory who call me father. In
looking over my whole life I cannot see an act upon which I would risk
the salvation of my soul; the best of them need washing in the blood of
Jesus. I know I have a home in glory. How precious Jesus is. Jesus, I
love thee for what thou hast done for me. I will praise thee forever."
Brother Requa was a man of ardent temperament, and at times impulsive,
but he was a true man and a faithful minister. His attachments were
strong and abiding. He loved the work in which he was engaged, and was
very generally popular among the people. A born Radical, he was liable
to push matters beyond what more conservative minds deemed wise, and it
is possible that in some instances his extreme methods defeated his
purpose, but even then, no one questioned the rectitude of his heart. In
the death of Brother Requa the Conference sustained a severe loss. His
remains were interred in College Hill Cemetery, at Ripon.
CHAPTER XIV.
Fond du Lac District Continued.--Appleton.--Early History.--Rev. C.G.
Lathrop--Lawrence University.--Incipient Stages.--Charter.--Trustees.
Agent.--First Board of Instruction.--Buildings.--Faculty.--Rev. Dr.
Cooke.--Rev. Dr. Cobleigh.--Rev. Dr. Mason.--Rev. Dr. Knox.--Rev.
Dr. Steele.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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