IN CONCLUSION

Now in conclusion I will try and tell how they worshipped and what they stood for from 1840 till 1883 as that is about the time these bishops died.

From 1840 till 1879 they held their conferences in the houses at Markham. It was often held at Bishop Peter Cober's and at our first Bishop Christian Stickley and Christian Heise, on the hill. The meeting would only last a day and they would get everything looked after and see if all were willing to walk by the same rule and mind the same thing. Then they would hold meeting Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights and all day Saturday. All the members were present and they would have Love feast. Sunday morning they had testimony meeting at nine o'clock and preaching at ten. People came from far and near to attend these meetings and ministers would come from the other two districts. At their farewell meetings they often sang the old hymn:

My dearest friends in bonds of love,
Our hearts in sweetest union prove;
Your friendships like a drawing band,
Yet we must take the parting hand.
Your presence sweet, your union dear,
Your words delightful to my ear;
And when I see that we must part,
You draw like chords around my heart.

How sweet the hours have passed away,
When we have met to sing and pray;
How loath I've been to leave the place
Where Jesus slows His smiling face.
Oh, could I stay with friends so kind,
How would it cheer my struggling mind,
But duty makes me understand
That we must take the parting hand.

And since it is God's holy will,
We must be parted for awhile,
In sweet submission all in one,
We'll say our Father's will be done.
Dear fellow youth in Christian ties,
Who seek for mansions in the skies,
Fight on, you'll win the happy shore,
Where parting hands are known no more.

How oft I've seen the flowing tears,
And heard you tell your hopes and fears
Your hearts with love have seemed to flame,
Which makes me hope we'll meet again.
Ye mourning souls, in sad surprise,
Jesus remembers all your cries;
Oh, taste His grace, in all that land
We'll no more take the parting hand.

After this hymn was sung it seemed to make a great impression on everyone. The tears that were shed made a lasting impression that was not soon forgotten.

The different places where meeting was held in Markham and Vaughan: Peter Cober where the Cober church stands; Jonathan Baker where Amos Baker now lives; Samuel Snider of Edgeley; Samuel Baker of Gormley where Roy Brillinger now lives; Jacob Heise at Victoria Square; Emmanuel Horner where Joseph Gee lived; George Brillinger near Bethesda; John Byer on the eighth of Markham where Russel Grove now lives; David Byer where Oliver Shank now lives; John Cober of Cherrywood, Pickering township; Peter Doner of New Gormley where Clarence Doner lived; Daniel Steckley where Lloyd Bolender now lives; Christian Heise where Joseph Heise now lives. At that time most of the services were in German. Peter Cober was the first minister to preach in English around 1860.

I have done my best to give some history of our pioneer bishops, deacons and ministers and will say it has done my heart good to see how true and loyal they were in trying to preserve the faith of Jacob Engle and all his leaders that so nobly stood for one hundred years and tried to keep it from drifting into popularity and pride and not getting away from the old landmarks. I often think in our generation if we can't stand for the old paths and honor our father and mother's religion what have we to contend for? It makes me feel bad to see our beloved churches drifting. I earnestly hope the day will come when we will see our mistake and come back again where we left off and warn our children against a lot of these new things that are coming in, before it is too late. The Bible says if we don't, the blood will be required of our hands. I feel more determined than ever to do all I can to encourage all our plain churches to stand true to their leaders who have stood true for simplicity, plainness and all the rest of the fundamentals which I know are based on the Word of God as I feel they were as near as it reads of doing the whole will of God which will be our judge in the end.