USA > Illinois > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 16
USA > Missouri > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 16
USA > Ohio > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 16
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They soon returned to the place where they had camped, and after waiting long and anxiously, at last saw the Indians returning with all their horses. They had gone back, had swum the Tombigbee, and had been caught and retained till the Indians claimed them. Some years after this, Dr. Akers was accom- panying Bishop Soule to a Conference through the same wild region, and when they arrived at the spot where they had camped, the Bishop related the cir- cumstance, and they had a hearty laugh over it.
The following reminiscences are kindly furnished me by Rev. Hooper Crews:
"In 1832, in the town of Russellville, Kentucky, God graciously converted some sinners, among whom . was a merchant, who for several years had sold dry goods in the place. He was remarkable for his mo- rality-a quiet, diffident, retiring disposition. On one Sabbath morning, at the opening of public serv- ice, he, with a number of others, was to be baptized. He spent the day before his baptism in fasting and
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prayer to God, that he might be baptized with the Holy Ghost at the same time. Nothing occurred during the time of administering the ordinance more than what is common. After all were composed, and the more public service was about to commence, he was seen trembling as a man shaking with an ague. Almost at the same instant he arose from his seat and rushed into the pulpit, and commenced a most powerful appeal to the congregation. His elo- quence was astonishing, and a most extraordinary influence came down upon the people. The uncon- verted were confounded; God's people shouted for joy. In a few minutes he left the pulpit and ran out into the congregation, and began to lead the penitent to the altar. None of the unconverted resisted him, and he continued till all the space around the altar was occupied with scores, crying for mercy. All thought of preaching was given up, but the exercises of singing and prayer went on till long after dark. Many found peace in believing, who made very worthy and efficient members of the Church.
" An instance will serve to show the powerful influence of the occasion. An old gentleman, well known for his hostility to an earnest Christianity, for some cause had that day attended the church. He had taken his seat in the gallery, as nearly con- cealed as possible. Mr. H., looking up, saw him, and ran up the steps. No sooner had he reached the floor above than the old gentleman, seeing his
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eye fixed on him, rose from his seat, saying, 'I will go!' and without resistance he came.
"After that remarkable day and its occurrences, there was nothing in the life of Mr. H. more than in the life of any other good, humble Christian. He lived many years an honor to the Church of his choice."
I introduce a few characteristic sketches as ap- propriate in this connection, from Rev. James B. Finley's "Sketches of Western Methodism:"
"I never heard brother Axley preach, but, ac- cording to popular fame, his pulpit performances were practical, forcible, and left a deep and abiding impression on the multitudes that thronged together to hear him. To this day we occasioanlly hear al- lusion made to a sermon he preached in the city of Baltimore, during the General Conference of 1820, of which he was a member. It must have been a potent sermon to be remembered so distinctly for the third of a century. I have heard also very frequent allusions to his pulpit performances in different parts of the Western country, where he had operated to good purpose as a traveling preacher, more partic- ularly in Kentucky and Tennessee. But perhaps the effort which occasioned the most talk and ob- tained the greatest notoriety was the one said to have been made in his own section of country, and was commonly known as Axley's Temperance Ser- mon, though not so designated by any preannounce- ment. It should be known that East Tennessee in
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those days was regarded as a great country for pro- ducing peach brandy, and for a free use of it; also, that the New Lights abounded there, familiarly called Schismatics, and that Church members who rendered themselves liable to a disciplinary process would occasionally go over to them, as a city of refuge, where they felt safe from its restraints. With this preliminary, I proceed to recite a passage from the sermon, reminding the reader that my au- thority is not personal knowledge, but the verbal statement of a highly respectable Methodist minis- ter, Rev. Dr. G., of Tennessee. I write it substan- tially as I heard it:
"TEXT: 'Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord rewarded him according to his works.' 2 Timothy iv, 14.
"Paul was a traveling preacher, and a bishop, I presume, or a presiding elder at least; for he traveled extensively, and had much to do, not only in regulating the societies, but also in sending the preachers here, there, and yonder. He was zealous, laborious, would not build on another man's founda- tion, but formed new circuits, where Christ was not named, 'so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, he had fully preached the Gospel of Christ.' One new place that he visited was very wicked-Sabbath-breaking, dancing, drinking, quar- reling, fighting, swearing, etc., abounded; but the Word of the Lord took effect; there was a powerful stir among the people, and many precious souls were
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converted. Among the subjects of that work there was a certain noted character, Alexander by name, and a still-maker by trade; also, one Hymeneus, who was his partner in the business. Paul formed a new society, and appointed brother Alexander class-leader. There was a great change in the place; the people left off their drinking, swearing, fighting, horse-racing, dancing, and all their wicked practices. The stills were worked up into bells and stew-kettles, and thus applied to useful purposes. The settlement was orderly, the meetings were prosperous, and things went well among them for some time. But one year they had a pleasant Spring; there was no late frost, and the peach crop hit exactly. I do suppose, my brethren, that such a crop of peaches was never known before. The old folks ate all they could eat, the children ate all they could eat, the pigs ate all they could eat, and the sisters preserved all they could preserve, and still the limbs of the trees were bending and breaking. One Sunday, when the brethren met for worship, they gathered round outside of the meeting-house, and got to talk- ing about their worldly business-as you know peo- ple sometimes do, and it is a mighty bad practice- and one said to another, 'Brother, how is the peach crop with you this year ?' 'O,' said he, 'you never saw the like; they are rotting on the ground under
. the trees; I don't know what to do with them.'
'How would it do,' said one, 'to still them ? The peaches will go to waste, but the brandy will keep;
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and it is very good in certain cases, if not used to ex- cess.' 'I should like to know,' said a cute brother, 'how you could make brandy without stills ?' 'That's nothing,' replied one, 'for our class-leader-brother Alexander-is as good a still-maker as need be, and brother Hymeneus is another, and, rather than see the fruit wasted, no doubt they would make us a few.' The next thing heard on the subject was a hammering in the class-leader's shop; and soon the stills in every brother's orchard were smoking, and the liquid poison streaming. When one called on another the bottle was brought out, with the re- mark, 'I want you to taste my new brandy ; I think it is pretty good.' The guest, after tasting once, was urged to repeat, when, smacking his lips, he would reply, ' Well, it 's tolerable; but I wish you would come over and taste mine; I think mine is a little better.' So they tasted and tasted till many of them got about half drunk, and I do n't know but three-quarters. Then the very devil was raised among them; the society was all in an uproar, and Paul was sent for to come and settle the difficulty. At first it was difficult to find sober, disinterested ones enough to try the guilty; but finally he got his committee formed ; and the first one he brought to account was Alexander, who pleaded not guilty. He declared that he had not tasted, bought, sold, or distilled a drop of brandy. 'But,' said Paul, 'you made the stills, otherwise there could have been no liquor made; and if no liquor, no one could
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have been intoxicated.' So they expelled him first, then Hymeneus next, and went on for complement, till the society was relieved of all still-makers, dis- tillers, dram-sellers, and dram-drinkers, and peace was once more restored. Paul says, 'Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck; of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.'
"Of course they flew off the handle, and joined the Schismatics. .
" Although the following anecdote of Mr. Axley may be familiar to many of our readers, we hope they will pardon us for inserting it, as it is worthy of a more durable record than the columns of a newspaper, from which we clip it. The late Judge Hugh L. White, who relates it, was a learned and able jurist and distinguished statesman, and for many years a conspicuous member of the United States Senate from the State of Tennessee.
"On a certain day a number of lawyers and lit- erary men were together in the town of Knoxville, Tennessee, and the conversation turned on preachers and preaching. One and another had expressed his opinion of the performances of this and that pulpit orator, when at length Judge White spoke up :
"' Well, gentlemen, on this subject each man is, of course, entitled to his own opinion ; but I must confess that father Axley brought me to a sense of
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my evil deeds, at least a portion of them, more ef- fectually than any preacher I ever heard.'
" At this, every eye and ear was turned, for Judge White was never known to speak lightly on relig- ious subjects, and, moreover, was habitually cautious and respectful in his remarks about religious men. The company now expressed the most urgent desire that the Judge should give the particulars, and ex- pectation stood on tiptoe.
"'I went up,' said the Judge, 'one evening to the Methodist church. A sermon was preached by a clergyman with whom I was not acquainted, but father Axley was in the pulpit. At the close of the sermon he arose and said to the congregation, "I am not going to detain you by delivering an exhort- ation; I have risen merely to administer a rebuke for improper conduct, which I have observed here ·to-night." This, of course, waked up the entire as- sembly, and the stillness was profound, while Axley stood and looked for several seconds over the con- gregation. Then stretching out his large, long arm, and pointing with his finger steadily in one direc- tion, he said, "Now, I calculate that those two young men, who were talking in that corner of the house while the brother was preaching, think that I am going to talk about them. Well, it is true, it looks very bad, when well-dressed young men, who you would suppose, from their appearance, belonged to some respectable family, come to the house of God, and instead of reverencing the majesty of Him
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that dwelleth therein, or attending to the message of his everlasting love, get together in one corner of the house"-his finger all the time pointing as steady and straight as the aim of a rifleman-" and there, during the whole solemn service, keep talk- ing, tittering, laughing, and giggling, thus annoy- ing the minister, disturbing the congregation, and sinning against God. I'm sorry for the young .men. I'm sorry for their parents. I'm sorry they have done so to-night. I hope they will never do so again. But, however, that's not the thing I was go- ing to talk about. It is another matter, so import- ant that I thought. it would be wrong to suffer the congregation to depart without administering a suit- able rebuke. Now," said he, pointing in another direction, " perhaps that man who was asleep on the bench out there, while the brother was preaching, thinks I am going to talk about him. Well, I must confess it looks very bad for a man to come into a .worshiping assembly, and, instead of taking a seat like others, and listening to the blessed Gospel, care- lessly stretching himself out on a bench, and going to sleep. It is not only a proof of great insensi- bility with regard to the obligations which we owe to our Creator and Redeemer, but it shows a want of genteel breeding. It shows that the poor man has been so unfortunate in his bringing up as not to have been taught good manners. He do h't know what is polite and respectful in a worshiping assem- bly among whom he comes to mingle. I'm sorry
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for the poor man. I'm sorry for the family to which he belongs. I'm sorry he did not know bet- ter. I hope he will never do so again. But, how- ever, this was not what I was going to talk about." Thus father Axley went on, for some time, " boxing the compass," hitting a number of persons and things that he was not going to talk about, and hitting hard, till the attention and curiosity of the audience were raised to their highest pitch, when finally he remarked :
"'"The thing of which I was going to talk was chewing tobacco. Now, I do hope, when any gentle- man comes to church who can't keep from using tobacco during the hours of worship, that he will just take his hat and use it for a spit-box. You all know we are Methodists. You all know that our custom is to kneel when we pray. Now, any gen- tleman may see, in a moment, how exceedingly inconvenient it must be for a well-dressed Methodist lady to be compelled to kneel down in a puddle of tobacco spit."
"'Now,' said Judge White, 'at this time I had in my mouth an uncommonly large quid of tobacco. Axley's singular manner and train of remark strong- ly arrested my attention. While he was stirring to the right and left, hitting those "things" that he was not going to talk about, my curiosity was busy to find out what he could be aiming at. I was chewing and spitting my large quid with uncommon rapidity, and looking up at the preacher to catch
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every word and every gesture-when at last he pounced upon the tobacco, behold, there I had a great puddle of tobacco spit! I quietly slipped the quid out of my mouth, and dashed it as far as I could under the seats, resolved never again to be found chewing tobacco in the Methodist church.'
"Samuel Hamilton belonged to a class distinctly marked. His position among the itinerant ranks the reader will be able to fix after he shall have read our sketch. He was the youngest son of Wil- liam Hamilton, who emigrated from Western Vir- ginia, in 1806, and settled in the wilds of Muskin- gum. Having purchased his land, and made every preparation for settling upon it, he called all the members of his household together, and, like Abram in Mamre, erected an altar, and consecrated his family and possessions all to God. This patriarch, with his devoted and pious wife, having given them- selves and children to God in an everlasting cove- nant, were encouraged, by God's promise, to expect that the children of their faith, and prayer, and godly example, would soon give evidence of the work of grace upon their hearts. At the removal of his father to Ohio, Samuel was in the fifteenth year of his age. His mind was early impressed with the importance of religion, and his tears and pray- ers gave evidence that the world and. its pleasures could not fill the aching void in his aspiring soul. In the year 1812, when he was in the twenty-first
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year of his age, he attended a camp meeting, held on the lands of Joseph Thrap, in the bounds of Knox circuit, where he was powerfully awakened under the ministration of God's Word. It was impossible for him to suppress the deep and overwhelming con- victions of his soul, and in agony he cried aloud for mercy. For days and nights, in a distress border- ing upon despair, he sought for pardon. We had witnessed his anguish, and the unavailing cries of his heart for mercy, and all the sympathies of our nature were deeply aroused in his behalf. We took him to the woods, and there, in the solitude and deep silence of the night, with the curtains of dark- ness around us, we fell prostrate before God in prayer. We arose upon our knees, and embraced him in our arms, while, with streaming eyes and faltering voice, he exclaimed, ' O Lord, I do be- lieve! Help thou mine unbelief!' Then, in a mo- ment, quick as thought conveyed by lightning, the blessing of pardon came down, and heaven filled his soul. Instantly he sprang to his feet, and, like the man in the 'beautiful porch,' he 'leaped, and shouted, and praised God' for the delivering grace he had obtained in that distressful hour. At this time we were traveling the circuit on which his father lived, and we had the pleasure of aiding the young convert in taking up his cross. He was zealous, determined, and active, and the Church and world alike saw that God had a work for him to do. He exercised his gifts in exhortation, and sinners
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were awakened and converted through his instru- mentality. In the year 1814, at the Conference held in Cincinnati, he was admitted on trial as a traveling preacher. His first field of labor was the Kanawha circuit. The circuits in Western Virginia at that time were called the Colleges of the Meth- odist Church, where the young preachers were sent to get their theological education, or, in other words, take their theological course. Sometimes they were called 'Brush Colleges;' at other times, the fields where the Conference broke its young preachers. Some of the most prominent of our Western preach- ers took their first lessons in the itinerancy upon this field. Here, amid the dense forests and flowing streams, the logical and metaphysical Shinn pored over his books, on horseback, as he traveled to dis- tant appointments; and here, among the craggy mountains and deep glens, the eloquent Bascom caught his sublimest inspirations. In this wild re- gion the preachers had to encounter much toil and hardship; and while they lived on the simple fare of the country, consisting of hominy, potatoes, and 'mountain groceries,' they were not afflicted with those fashionable complaints denominated dyspepsia and bronchitis. As a specimen of the trials of Methodist preachers, we will relate an incident that occurred in the year 1836. One of the preachers of the Ohio Conference, having reached his circuit, and finding no house for his family, built for · himself a shanty out of slabs, on the bank of the
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Gaulley River. Having furnished his wife with pro- visions for a month-that being the time required to perform his round- consisting of some corn-meal and potatoes, he started out upon his circuit. To reach his appointments, which were sometimes thirty miles distant, it was necessary for him to take an early start. One morning, after he had progressed about half round his circuit, he started for an ap- pointment which lay on the other side of one of the Gaulley Mountains. It had rained through the night, and having frozen, the earth was covered with a sheet of ice. The travel was difficult even on level ground, so slippery was the surface; and unless it should thaw, the itinerant felt an apprehension that it would be difficult to ascend the steep sides of the mountain. Instead of thawing, however, the weather grew colder; but there was no retreat. His appointment was before him, and the mountain must be crossed. At length, after passing for some distance through a narrow valley, he came to the point where his narrow path led up the ascent. It was steep and difficult, and his horse would fre- quently slip as he urged him on. On the right the mountain towered far above, and on the left, far down, were deep and frightful precipices; a single misstep, and horse and rider would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. After ascending about two-thirds of the elevation, he came to a place in his mountain path steeper than any he had passed over. Urging his tired but spirited steed, he sought
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to ascend; but the horse slipped. Seeing his dan- ger, the preacher threw himself off on the upper side, and the noble animal went over the precipice, bounding from rock to rock, deep down into the chasm below. The preacher retraced his steps, and on coming round to the point where his horse had fallen, he found him dead. Taking off the saddle, bridle, and saddle-bags, he lashed them to his back, and resumed his journey, reaching his appointment in time to preach. The balance of the round was performed on foot, and at the expiration of four weeks from the time of starting, he joined his com- panion in her cabin, on the bank of the river, thank- ful for the providence which had returned him safely home.
" Here young Hamilton studied theology and hu- man nature, in both of which he became well versed. His preaching talents were peculiar, and often did he make his discourses sparkle with wit and elo- quence. Sometimes he would indulge in a rich vein of humor, which, without letting down the dignity of the pulpit, would send a thrill of delight among his audience. No one enjoyed a little pleasantry more than himself; and having a peculiar horror for any thing like a sour godliness, he may, at times, have gone a little too far over to the other extreme. He had a quick perception of the ridiculous, and was not very well able to command himself even in the pulpit when any thing occurred to excite that sense in his mind. We recollect of his telling us
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of an occasion of this kind, which occurred at a meeting on the waters of the Little Kanawha. At. a certain appointment there lived a Colonel whose family were members of the Church, and who had a respect for religion, though he was too fond of the world to make a profession thereof. He was regular in his attendance, and on the occasion to which we have alluded, he was in his seat, attended by a neighbor of his, who was respectable enough, with the exception that at times he would lose his balance under the influence of intoxicating liquor. He had taken on this occasion just enough to make him loquacious without being boisterous. Hamilton, after singing and prayer, arose and gave out for his text the first Psalm, which reads as follows: ' Blessed is the man that walketh not in the coun- sel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sin- ners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scorner,' etc. He entered upon the discussion of his subject by showing what was to be understood by walking in the counsel of the ungodly ; and as he entered upon the description of the ungodly, and their various wicked ways and bad examples, he saw the friend of the Colonel punch him in the ribs with his elbow, and overheard him say, 'Colonel, he means you.' 'Be still,' said the Colonel, 'you will disturb the congregation.' It was as much as the preacher could do to control his risibles; but he progressed with his subject; and as he described another char- acteristic of the ungodly in standing in the way of
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sinners, the force of the application was too strong to be resisted, and the Colonel's friend, drawing up closely, elbowed him again, saying, 'He certainly means you, Colonel.' 'Be quiet, the preacher will see you,' whispered the annoyed man, while he re- moved as far from him as he could to the other end of the seat. The preacher had arrived at the third characteristic of the ungodly; and as he, in earnest strains, described the scorner's seat, the Colonel's friend turned and nodded his head at him most sig- nificantly, adding, in an under tone, 'It's you, it's you, Colonel; you know it's you.' By this time the most of the congregation were aware of what was going on, and cast significant smiles and glances at one another. Those who understood the features of the speaker could easily discover that he was moving along under a heavy press of feeling, and unless something should occur to break the excitement, he must yield to the impulses of his nature. Just at this crisis a little black dog ran up the aisle, and, stopping directly in front of the pulpit, looked up in the preacher's face, and commenced barking. The scene was ludicrous enough; but how was it hight- ened when the Colonel's friend rose from his seat, and deliberately marching up the aisle, he seized the dog by his neck and back, and began to shake him, exclaiming, 'Tree the preacher, will you? tree the preacher, will you?' Thus he kept shaking and repeating what we have written, till he arrived at the door, when, amid the yells of the dog and the
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