USA > Colorado > San Juan County > Pioneering in the San Juan; personal reminiscences of work done in southwestern Colorado during the "great San Juan excitement," > Part 7
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If you do your duty on some of the fields that are loudly calling for men, you will have the oppor- tunity of feeling very forcibly the words of Christ, when he said he had not where to lay his head; for your pillow will be your saddle, a stone, or the snow.
"When the Batavia was crossing the Atlantic in a terrific storm and there was sighted in the glooming evening twilight a wreck with several men clinging to the shrouds; when it was a question of life or
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death to man a boat and pull to the rescue, Captain Mouland's call for volunteers was instantly responded to by twice the number needed for the service. Out of this number he commissioned the picked men, who hastened to their critical trust and, in due time, joyfully returned, bringing in nine rescued souls, amid the hearty cheers of their com- rades, who generously envied them the honor of which they themselves had been deprived. When shall the time come that always twice the number of men needed will volunteer for the most advanced and perilous posts of aggressive missionary service, and our only care be to select the strongest and the best? God speed the day!"
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CHAPTER XXVIII
THE "WHAT I USED TO DO IN THE EAST" KIND OF CHRISTIANS
"Lapidaries tell us of the Chalcedonian stone, that it will retain its virtue and luster no longer than it is enclosed in gold. A fit emblem of the hypocrite, who is only good while he is enclosed in golden prosperity, safety and felicity."
-T. Brooks.
Pray, what kind of Christians are these? The kind who used to teach in Sabbath Schools "back East," but who will not teach in Sabbath Schools "out West." The kind of Christians who used to "remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy," "back East," but who break it right in two "out West." The kind of Christians who used to attend prayer-meetings "back East," but are par- ticular not to let it be known that they are pro- fessing Christians while living "out West." They are the kind of Christians who are walking hand in hand with the devil, going straight to hell with the mark of a Christian profession upon them and with their names enrolled on church books "back East." They are the kind of Christians who joined some church "back East," but who never joined the Lord Jesus Christ. They are numerous "out West." In
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the Bible they are called "stumbling-blocks." They avoid God's house and, by their actions, lead men to think that they believe the Lord cannot see them after they cross the Missouri River; and they prefer that ministers would not bother them until they recross that muddy stream on their way "back East," back to where they left their religion. They belong to that class who never had much to do with the Lord "back East," but who imagine the Lord has a great deal to do with them, because he saw their names on a church book.
Whenever we who live in the West see a profess- ing Christian from the East absenting himself from church services and the place where prayer is wont to be made, and persistently and regularly desecrat- ing the Sabbath Day, going with the multitude to do evil, we say that man is not a sinner saved by grace, but a graceless sinner. My heart has often been made sore by seeing professing Christians doing many things "out West" that they admit they would be ashamed to do "back East." Far better for such persons had they never united with the church, for now they are "trampling the blood of the Covenant under their feet as an unholy thing," crucifying the Lord of glory "afresh," for which God will call them to account.
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"Back-East" Christians, who are living out West without God, let me say to you in all kindness that location does not make the Christian, but the grace of God shed abroad in the heart, and a saving knowledge of God through the Savior. It is the "blood of Jesus Christ, His Son" that cleanses from all sin, and not the placing of your name on a church book "back East." "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
If the religion of Christ is worth anything "back East," it is worth just as much "out West." And if Christ was in your heart "back East," he has not deserted you because you are living "out West." You are the deserter, and not Christ.
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CHAPTER XXIX
THE BOARD OF CHURCH ERECTION
"The water of life is free-'without money and without price,' but we must pay for pitchers to carry it in." -Dr. Adams' "Hostess."
The Board of Church Erection has aided almost every church organization in Colorado that has a house of worship in securing the same, and, being a twin brother of the Board of Home Missions, should be liberally sustained. One of the crying needs of the Presbyterian Church to-day, that comes to us from all over our beloved land, is more money for church buildings.
Hundreds of homeless churches are struggling for life because they are homeless. A church organiza- tion without a church building is like a family with- out a home-no certain abiding-place. In many instances they worship God as a church when it is most convenient for the owners of the building to allow it to be used for that purpose (the use of it for other purposes paying the owners better). The consequence is, such organizations without church buildings do not become strong; rarely are they
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self-supporting. True, the Board supplements the minister's salary and the field is "held"; but when, with the aid of our Board of Church Erection, a comfortable house of worship is erected and the homeless organization housed, then the field is not only "held," but the work progresses; and if there be a reasonable growth in the town, the church becomes self-supporting, and not only releases the Board of Home Missions from paying part of the minister's salary, but is a source of help in assisting feeble churches by its contributions. Every dollar contributed to the Board of Church Erection brings returns such as should encourage the contributor to invest more in the same way.
There is something like speculation in nearly everything in life. Even in our giving we find objects which appear worthy; yet in giving to them we are taking chances. But there are objects to which all may give with perfect freedom as to the certainty of the results; among which are the Boards of our Church, and of the latter the Board of Church Erection has ever been doing its part of the work, economically and grandly, though quietly.
While on the frontier, building churches and preaching the Gospel, I frequently wondered whether the churches so generously helped by the Board of
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Church Erection would ever forget the assistance received. I think something like forgetfulness must be the case where so many churches bid an affec- tionate farewell to the Board of Church Erection after the church building is paid for.
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CHAPTER XXX
AMUSING
"What is meant by a 'knowledge of the world' is simply an acquaintance with the infirmities of men." -Dickens.
A young minister once said to a prospector, "I have a prospect." Then he told how the part on which he expected to work was covered with gold, and gave a glowing description of the Heavenly Jerusalem. When he closed his description the prospector said, rather dryly: "I, too, have such a prospect, but have not been working my assess- ments."
A temperance lecturer visited a frontier town and, while there, delivered a lecture that was consid- ered severe. After he had gone some one wrote him that if he would come back and deliver that lecture again he would be hanged. He replied : "Your letter received; inducements not sufficient."
While riding through Silverton, in '77, with Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., we saw a sign which read:
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"Westminster Saloon." I asked the Doctor if he "thought that was kept by a Presbyterian?"
A friend introduced me to a gentleman who had bought an interest in a small smelter. After the purchase had been made by the company to which he belonged, the majority felt that it was not the proper thing to be engaged in a business that necessitated working on the Sabbath. The man's conscience seemed to be troubling him. He explained how they came to purchase the smelter, and then added that the members of the company had decided to devote one-seventh of the profits to charitable work. Said he: "What do you think about it, Mr. Darley?" The man, having asked a pointed question, was deserving of a pointed answer. I said: "I can tell you a story that contains the whole business." "All right," said he. "An Assyrian, after his conversion, refused to work on the Sabbath day. His employer remonstrated with him, saying that the Bible taught that if a man's ass fell into a pit on the Sabbath lay it was right to pull him out. 'Yes,' said the Assyrian, 'but if the same ass falls into the same pit every Sabbath, you had better sell the ass or fill up the pit.'" After thinking a moment, my new acquaintance said:
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"You are right, that story puts it all into a nut- shell."
A miner died while the "Parson" was away from camp and, after a consultation held by his friends, it was decided not to bury him without appropriate remarks. An educated, though somewhat dissi- pated friend was chosen to "conduct services." The friend said among other things: "The departed was a noble specimen of mankind; high-minded, brave and true, a man of generous impulses; since he came among us he was never known to drink alone."
On one occasion when the "Parson" asked to hold services in a saloon, the proprietor not only consented, but generously proposed to "ring up" the loose men in the small camp. After procuring a dinner bell from the log-cabin hotel, he rang the bell vigorously while walking from cabin to cabin, at the same time crying loudly: "All you ungodly, sinning -, come and hear the Gospel preached!"
When the service was over the "Parson" received a very gratifying contribution.
A San Juan miner sold a mine in New York and, feeling rich, went into a leading restaurant and ordered dinner. Being dressed in Western style,
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little attention was paid to him. As a waiter passed, the miner said: "Bring me something to eat." The waiter replied: "I am serving a fifty- dollar dinner." The miner then exclaimed: "Bring me a fifteen-hundred-dollar dinner of ham and eggs!"
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CHAPTER XXXI
A FEW THOUGHTS WHILE ON THE TRAIL
"Thinking is creating with God, as thinking is writing with the ready writer; and worlds are only leaves turned over in the process of composition about His throne." -Beecher.
The religion of Christ, as presented to us in His life, and manifested in the lives of His faithful fol- lowers, who daily live in the Spirit and walk as the Spirit directs, is the most beautiful thing of which the human mind can conceive. For it is not only heaven-born in its teachings and tendencies, but it lifts the soul of man upward as nothing else can. It sustains in life, comforts in death, and through Jesus will usher the soul that believes into heavenly joys that will never end.
Sorrows and afflictions always carry with them a cup of ointment made up of God's mercy and love. If we ask God for his Holy Spirit, He will grant our request; and when the Comforter is come, He will apply the ointment to the bruised hearts and cause them to be healed.
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Sometimes God in His infinite wisdom sees it is for man's best good and His own glory to pluck the bud and take it to Himself, which if left to bloom on earth would be the most beautiful of all the roses on the bush. Mourning one, comfort your troubled heart, and look up; for so sure as God plucked the rose in the bud, just so sure will He cause it to bloom in the garden of that heavenly paradise above.
Christianity can never grow and flourish under the shadow of worldliness any more than can corn under the shadow of forest trees. One needs the Sun of Righteousness, the other the sun in the firmament, that they may grow and bear fruit; one for the glory of God, the other for the benefit of man. If we conform to the world, we become shrouded with its darkness, and our light will not shine through the mist that surrounds us. Instead of our light shining that others, seeing our good works, may glorify God, we put our light under a bushel and give no light to the world.
Many who reject Christ now and try to overthrow His kingdom, like those who were determined that He should die the death of a malefactor, are as con-
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scious of the hard task they have undertaken, and work as zealously for the accomplishment of their terrible purpose, as did the false accusers of our blessed Lord.
The windows of the soul are often clouded by tears that fall from our eyes, because many relatives and friends have crossed the dark river; and for that reason even the most precious promises and cheering truths in God's word are seen "through a glass darkly"; therefore lose much of their strength and sweetness for a while; but when God in mercy wipes clean those windows we not only see but realize the strength and comfort contained in His promises, and are cheered by the God-given truth, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."
God, who sitteth in the heavens, and judgeth all mankind, is not controlled in His judgment by the impatience of His creatures regarding His time and way of rendering unto every man his just dues. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Neither is He controlled in His judgment of what is best for His children by their anxiety and ignorance as to what is for their best good. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of."
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Strong faith in God, faith that causes His children to lie calmly, contentedly and peacefully in His arms, enjoying religion as they are privileged, comes not without experience, for in religion, as in other things, experience is needed. The ripe experi- ence that comes through trial often proves a great blessing. By experience we learn that God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves, and that He delights to be inquired of. It would be injurious to our souls for God to place His loving and protecting hand between us and some trial we are approach- ing, for the experience brought may be just what the soul needs. Should God always stand between us and trial we might come to believe that by our own wisdom we had avoided it. To be truly bene- fited by God's mercies we must learn by experience to appreciate what God in mercy sends.
Put all the love that is possible into your faith, and you will not find it difficult to serve God. Love smooths the roughest edges of obedience, and makes the hardest work for the Master a pleasure.
A log cabin with a dirt roof is the most comfort- able house that can be built. It is coolest in sum- mer and warmest in winter. Whenever we hear
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those who are living in elegant-looking and finely- painted houses, with shingled or slated roof, complaining of the heat in summer, or the cold in winter, we feel that it is a pleasant thing to have a log cabin, with a dirt roof, to live in. Not every one can stand all these comforts without becoming proud, but some can. While the log-cabinites have reason to feel proud, their sympathy for their suffer- ing and unfortunate fellow citizens who are com- pelled to live in houses made of board or of brick, and then shingled over, keeps them from organizing what might be called the log-cabin aristocracy. And since we are not proud and do not like to be called by big-sounding names, nor cold-hearted enough to laugh at the unfortunate, we log-cabinites will just enjoy our log cabins and keep still about it.
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CHAPTER XXXII
LAME HOME MISSION CHURCHES
"Ye lame, fear not, you will not be cast out. Two snails entered the ark; how they got there I cannot tell. It must have taken them a long time. They must have set off rather early, unless it be that Noah took them part of the way. So some of you are snails; you are on the right road; but it will take a long while, unless some blessed Noah helps you into the ark." -Spurgeon.
The trouble is not, as some have supposed, the inability of home missionaries to preach accept- ably, but the live-on-father-as-long-as-we-can spirit that is in so many mission churches. When a church building is to be erected, the first question asked is, "How much can we get from the Board of Church Erection?" When the missionary's salary is mentioned, the first question asked is, "How much will the Board of Home Missions give us?" Having had some experience in home mission work, I know whereof I speak.
This live-on-father-as-long-as-we-can spirit is, to say the least, a spirit that should be despised, whether it be in a church or individual. It has often brought trial to the home of some faithful mis-
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LAME HOME MISSION CHURCHES
sionary. He is conscientious, knows something of the great work that is being done, and the usually low financial condition of the Board, tries his best to have the church or churches to which he preaches take care of themselves, since he is unwilling that more should be asked of the board than is necessary, and since the Board can only pay out what is paid in, he suffers to no small extent. "But," says one, "educate the members of these churches up to a higher standard of Christian duty." Correct ! Those who serve these lame home mission churches are trying to do this, and therefore are on the "right road"; but it will take these churches a long time to become self-supporting "unless some blessed Noah helps them into the ark." After a man has spent years in home-mission work on the frontier, and has been taught by experience that about the time he begins to see a little fruit for his labor in that direction the members of his church and con- gregation (or the majority of them) depart for newer, greener and richer fields, where churches are scarcer and money reported to be more plentiful, he feels that the educating process goes very slow. Home missionaries are compelled to face another discouraging fact. Out West many sit Sabbath after Sabbath without contributing to the support of
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the church, beyond a mere trifle for the defraying of contingent expenses, while they are paying hand- some prices for pews in self-supporting churches "back East." They claim their letters are there, or their families occupy the pews; therefore they are not able to pay toward the support of missionaries out West. And yet they do contribute toward this cause through the collections taken in their home churches. I have thought at times, when looking over the "Minutes of the General Assembly," that some of the churches back East were afflicted with lameness toward home missions, large member- ships and the column for "Congregational Expenses" showing that much was annually expended for the support of their own churches, yet very little contributed toward home missions. What is needed in the majority of churches all over the land is less lameness and more of the Holy Spirit. "As a ship in the midst of the sea goeth not toward the haven unless it have a prosperous gale of wind, even so the church of God goeth not to its wished-for haven unless it be blown with the Spirit of God, and directed and set on by the same Spirit."
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CHAPTER XXXIII
FAREWELL TO SAN JUAN
"The blossom cannot tell what becomes of its odor, and no man can tell what becomes of his influence and example that roll away from him and go beyond his ken on their perilous mission."
-Beecher.
No matter how hard a minister of the Gospel may have labored or how many hardships he may have endured, he cannot leave a field where he has worked for years without thoughts that cause his heart to be filled with heaviness, and his eyes with tears. Yet, if he has been faithful, and has done his utmost to advance the Master's kingdom among men, he will be remembered. Even the "queer class" will not forget him, and when eternity dawns he will realize that "much of Christ's fruit is gath- ered in strange orchards."
Having completely broken down from exposure and overwork in the roughest portion of the Rocky Mountains, having been under a severe strain for nearly five years, I was compelled to give up a work that was very dear to my heart. When my few household goods were nearly packed, I was
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called upon by two of my "peculiar friends." Without any preliminaries one of them began piling up silver dollars and five-dollar bills on a little table. When the money was counted, the one who had brought it said: "Mr. Darley, there is one hundred and thirty-seven dollars from the boys; not one cent is from a church member. You have given us hell for five years; but you have always given it to us in the teeth. You have been kind to us when we were sick, and never said one word against the dead. We are sorry you are going away and this is to show our appreciation."
The earnestness of the speaker, although under the influence of liquor, and the fact that he had been brought up in a Christian home, caused me to see that the good seed sown in his heart long years before still struggled to grow and bear fruit; but years of wandering from his father's house amid the dark mountains of sin had marred and scarred his soul. I have often asked myself what proportions of serpent and dove should be in a Christian's heart while dealing with these men. A quaint old min- ister said: "About the right proportion is an ounce of serpent to a pound of dove." Matthew Henry wrote: "The serpent's head (providing it be noth- ing akin to the old serpent) may well become a good
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FAREWELL TO SAN JUAN
Christian's body, especially if it have a dove's eye in it." Dove and serpent make a rather queer combi- nation, yet a very strong one when the right propor- tion enters into it.
It is difficult at times to tell which is the most useful to a man; for while the dove is without doubt the most beautiful, too much dove and too little serpent in any one nature would cause the possessor of it to be plucked so clean that his progress would be so slow as hardly to be perceptible. Like piety and good temper; piety, beyond doubt, is preferable to good temper without piety. A very pious elder once said to his son in view of marriage: "My boy, piety is essential for the life to come, but good tem- per is the requisite for happiness in this world." So would I say regarding the dove and the serpent. Dove-likeness will no doubt help a soul heavenward, yet a little of the serpent is requisite to progress in this world while dealing with all classes of men. Both are good. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
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CHAPTER XXXIV
HISTORICAL
"What histories of toils could I declare!
But still long-wearied nature wants repair." -Pope.
"The Presbytery of Colorado" was organized by the Enabling Act of the General Assembly at Pitts- burg, Pa., November 10, 1869; on February 19, 1870, with four ministers and six churches. There had existed a "Union Presbytery" prior to this time, but it had been dissolved by the removal of the few members from the field. They are sup- posed to have been mostly New School Presby- terians.
"The Presbytery of Colorado" was divided by act of the Assembly at Madison, Wis., May, 1880. The division into the Presbyteries of Denver and Pueblo took place October 12, 1880, in the Central Presby- terian Church, Denver, Colorado.
"The Presbytery of Pueblo" met in the infant Sunday-school room of said church on that day and elected officers (the Moderator being Lewis Hamil- . ton), appointed committees, and adjourned for the first regular meeting at Trinidad, April 26, 1881.
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At that meeting the following ministers and churches were enrolled: Willis Lord, D. D., LL. D., Lewis Hamilton, Wm. P. Teitsworth, Jas. L. Mer- ritt, Thos. C. Kirkwood, D. D., Ruel Dodd, John W. Partridge, Alex. M. Darley, George M. Darley, Henry B. Gage, W. W. Morton, George N. Smith, Harry L. Janeway, Achilles L. Loder, and Charles M. Shepherd; with licentiates Antonio J. Rodriguez, Juan Bautista, and candidates Manzanares and Cort -nineteen in all, of whom three were Mexicans. The churches in Pueblo Presbytery in the order of their size, and, when equal, in order of their age: Col- orado Springs, Pueblo, Canon City, Trinidad, Silver Cliff, Cenicero, Lake City, Del Norte, Animas City, Salida, Rosita, Poncha Springs, Alamosa, La Jara Second, Gunnison, Ouray, San Rafael, Irwin, West Las Animas, Granada, La Jara First, Le Vata, and Saguache-twenty-three in all, with 682 members, 36 elders, and 11 deacons. Three of these churches were Mexican. Two more churches were ordered to be organized. At the present time (October, 1898) the First Church of Colorado Springs has a larger membership than the twenty-three churches had at the time of the organization of "The Presby- tery of Pueblo," October 12, 1880. Great difficulty was experienced in getting a quorum for a meeting
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