Methodist educator and leader - 1858
Albert Carman, Canada’s Methodist educator
Introduction
As a youth, Albert Carman frittered away opportunities to learn. However, he was converted through Methodist preaching, vowed to make himself useful, and soon was a mathematics professor at the Canadian Methodists’ Belleville Seminary, where he became principal.
When he was twenty-five years old, Carman felt a need to dedicate himself completely to God. He wanted to live his life under the Holy Spirit’s control. One of his first steps was to rid himself of an expensive watch he had bought for show. On this day, 9 October 1858, he wrote out a covenant devoting himself to God.
Quote
“Fully convinced that I owe everything I have to God, my Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and constant Benefactor: deeply impressed by His Holy Spirit that it is my unceasing duty to devote all I have and am to His service, that I am but a steward: and deeply desirous of becoming holy in heart and practice, on this afternoon of Saturday the ninth day of October, A.D. 1858, upon my bended knees alone with my Heavenly Father, I make this covenant with Him and earnestly pray that through all the changes of life He may grant me wisdom, grace and strength cordially to discharge its sacred obligations….
“You know the motives of the children of men: make, O make mine right in your sight, for by you I shall be judged and rewarded according to my life here below.”
Kleinsteuber, R. Wayne. More than a memory : the renewal of Methodism in Canada. (Mississauga, Ontario : Light and Life Press Canada, 1984).