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 17
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 17
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 17
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 17
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general tittering of the audience, he threw him as far as he could into the yard. This was too much for Hamilton, and he sat down in the pulpit, over- come with laughter. It would have been impossible for him to have resumed his subject, or even to have dismissed the congregation. Suffice it to say that preaching was done for that day; and ever after, when the Colonel went to Church, he was careful that his friend was not by his side.
"Samuel Hamilton was well instructed in the doc- trines, and Discipline, and peculiarities of Methodism, and wherever he went his labors were appreciated, and souls were blessed."
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CHAPTER XXXII.
"AN important Western character appeared in this field in 1816. Young failed to reach the district after the General Conference of that year. James B. Fin- ley came to supply his place, and continued to super- intend it till 1819, with extraordinary zeal and success. Few men have attained more distinction as evangelical pioneers of the West. He was, in all respects, a genuine child of the wilderness-one of its best 'typical' men-of stalwart frame, 'features rather coarse,' but large, benevolent eyes, 'sandy hair, standing erect,' a good, expressive mouth, a 'voice like thunder,' and a courage that made riot- ous opposers, whom he often encountered, quail before him. He did not hesitate to seize disturbers of his meetings, shake them in his athletic grasp, and pitch them out of the windows or doors. Withal, his heart was most genial, his discourses full of pathos, and his friendships the most tender and lasting. All over the North-West he worked mightily, through a long life, to found and extend his Church, traveling circuits and districts, laboring as missionary to the Indians, and chaplain to prison- ers, and, in his old age, making valuable historical contributions to its literature.
"Though born in North Carolina-in 1781-his
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childhood was spent in Kentucky, where he grew up with all the hardy habits of the pioneer settlers. In early manhood he and all his father's family were borne along by the current of cmigration into the North-Western Territory, where he lived to see his State Ohio become a dominant part of the Amer- ican Union. He had been a rough, reckless, and entirely irreligious youth, associating with Indians, a 'mighty hunter' among the 'back woodsmen,' fond of nearly every excess, and of the most hazardous adventures with savage men and beasts. The camp meetings of the Presbyterians and Methodists in Kentucky had spread, about the beginning of the century, a vivid religious interest all over the West. Finley's sensitive, though rough nature, could not escape it. He went with some of his associates to Cane Ridge, Kentucky, his former home, to wit- ness one of these great occasions. His own story gives us a striking view of them in their primitive, their rude Western grandeur and excesses. 'A scene presented itself,' he says, 'to my mind, not only novel and unaccountable, but awful beyond description. A vast crowd, supposed by some to have amounted to twenty-five thousand, was collected together. The noise was like the roar of Niagara. The sea of hu- man beings seemed to be agitated as if by storm. I counted seven ministers, all preaching at the same time, some on stumps, others on wagons, and one, William Burke, standing on a tree which, in falling, had lodged against another. Some of the people
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were singing, others praying, some crying for mercy in the most piteous accents. While witnessing these scenes a peculiarly strange sensation, such as I had never felt before, came over me. My heart beat tremendously, my knees trembled, my lip quivered, and I felt as though I must fall to the ground. A strange, supernatural power seemed to pervade the mass of mind there collected. I became so weak that I found it necessary to sit down. Soon after, . I left and went into the woods, and there strove to rally and man up my courage. After some time I returned to the scene of excitement, the waves of which had, if possible, risen still higher. The same awfulness of feeling came over me. I stepped up on a log, where I could have a better view of the surg- ing sea of humanity. The scene that then presented itself to my eye was indescribable. At one time I saw at least five hundred swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them. My hair rose up on my head, my whole frame trembled, the blood ran cold in my veins, and I fled to the woods a second time, and wished that I had staid at home.' He went to a neighboring tavern, where, amid a throng of drinking and fight- ing backwoodsmen, he swallowed a dram of brandy, but afterward felt worse than before; 'as near hell,' he says, 'as I could wish to be, in either this world or that to come.' Drawn irresistibly back to the meeting, he gazed again, appalled, upon its scenes. That night he slept in a barn, a most wretched man.
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The next day he hastily left for his home, with one of his companions. They were both too absorbed in their reflections to converse as they journeyed; but, says Finley, 'When we arrived at the Blue Lick Knobs I broke the silence which reigned between us, and said, "Captain, if you and I don't stop our wickedness the devil will get us both."' Tears gushed freely from the eyes of both. The next night was spent without slumber, at a place called May's Lick. 'As soon as day broke,' adds Finley, 'I went to the woods to pray, and no sooner had my knees touched the ground than I cried aloud for . mercy and salvation, and fell prostrate. My cries were so loud that they attracted the attention of the neighbors, many of whom gathered around me. Among the number was a German, from Switzer- land, who had experienced religion. He, under- standing fully my condition, had me carried to his house and laid on a bed. The old Dutch saint directed me to look right away to the Savior. He then kneeled by my bedside, and prayed for me most fervently in Dutch and broken English. He rose and sang in the same manner, and continued singing and praying alternately till nine o'clock, when sud- denly my load was gone, my guilt removed, and presently the direct witness from heaven shone fully upon my heart. Then there flowed such copious streams of love into the hitherto waste and desolate places of my soul that I thought I should die with excess of joy. So strangely did I appear to all but
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the Dutch brother that they thought me deranged. After a time I returned to my companion, and we started on our journey. O what a day it was to my soul !'
"Astonishing-superhuman, almost-as seem the travels and labors of many of the earlier itinerants, none of them could have surpassed the adventurous energy of Nolley, on his Tombigbee circuit, among the rudest settlements and Indian perils. For two . years he ranged over a vast extent of country, preaching continually, stopping for no obstructions of flood or weather. When his horse could not go on he shouldered his saddle-bags and pressed forward on foot. He took special care of the children, grow- ing up in a half-savage condition over all the coun- try, and catechised and instructed them with the utmost diligence as the best means of averting bar- barism from the settlements. To his successor on the circuit he gave a list of them by name, solemnly charging him, 'Be sure to look after these children.' He labored night and day, also, for the evangeliza- tion of the blacks. When Indian hostilities pre- vailed the settlers crowded into isolated forts and stockades. Nolley sought no shelter, but hastened from post to post, instructing and comforting the alarmed refugees. He kept 'the Gospel sounding abroad through all the country,' says our authority. The people could not but love him, admiring and wondering at his courage, and the very savages seemed to hear a voice saying unto them, 'Touch
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not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. It was in this wild country that happened the fact often cited as an illustration of the energy of the primitive Methodist ministry. 'The informant, Thomas Clinton,' says a Southern bishop, 'subse- quently labored in that region, and, though a gen- eration has passed, he is not forgotten there. In making the rounds of his work Nolley came to a fresh wagon track. On the search for any thing that had a soul, he followed it, and came upon the emigrant family just as it had pitched on the ground of its future home. The man was unlimbering his team, and the wife was busy around the fire. "What!" exclaimed the settler upon hearing the salutation of the visitor, and taking a glance at his unmistakable appearance, "have you found me already? Another Methodist preacher ! I left Vir- ginia to get out of reach of them, went to a new settlement in Georgia, and thought to have a long whet, but they got my wife and daughter into the Church; then, in this late purchase-Choctaw Cor- ner-I found a piece of good land, and was sure I would have some peace of the preachers, and here is one before my wagon is unloaded." Nolley gave him small comfort. "My friend, if you go to heaven you'll find Methodist preachers there, and if to hell I am afraid you will find some there; and you see how it is in this world, so you had better make terms with us, and be at peace."'
"Nathan Bangs was at this Conference as a
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spectator. He had been laboring on Canada circuits, and had hardly heard of M'Kendree, whose fame, nevertheless, now filled all the West. Bangs went, on Sunday, to Light-Street Church, the center of interest, the cathedral of the occasion and of the denomination. He says: 'It was filled to overflow- ing. The second gallery, at one end of the chapel, was crowded with colored people. I saw the preacher of the morning enter the pulpit, sun- burned, and dressed in very ordinary clothes, with a red flannel shirt which showed a large space be- tween his vest and small-clothes. He appeared more like a poor backwoodsman than a minister of the Gospel. I felt mortified that such a looking man should have been appointed to preach on such an imposing occasion. In his prayer he seemed to lack words, and even stammered. I became uneasy for the honor of the Conference and the Church. . He gave out his text: "For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" As he advanced in his discourse a mysterious mag- netism seemed to emanate from him to all parts of the house. He was absorbed in the interest of his subject; his voice rose gradually till it sounded like a trumpet. At a climactic passage the effect was overwhelming. It thrilled through the assem- bly like an electric shock; the house rang with
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irrepressible responses; many hearers fell prostrate to the floor. An athletic man sitting by my side fell as if shot by a cannon-ball. I felt my own heart melting, and feared that I should also fall from my seat. Such an astonishing effect, so sudden and overpowering, I seldom or never saw before.'
"Bangs refers again, in his History of the Church, to this sermon, and says he saw 'a halo of glory around the preacher's head.' M'Kendree's general recognition as leader of Western Methodism, to- gether with his evident fitness for the Episcopal office, doubtless led to his nomination, but this re- markable discourse placed his election beyond doubt. 'That sermon,' said Asbury, 'will decide his elec- tion.' Asbury had formerly favored Lee's appoint- ment to the Episcopate. M'Kendree had become endeared to him in the conflicts of the West, and he now saw reason to prefer him even to Lee. The .Church had become rich in great and eligible men."
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
I HAD a mode of administering Discipline which, though not in the usual way, was in order, and ef- fective. Several years since, in the first quarterly meeting of Clark county, it was my lot to have a presiding elder who filled that important office for the first time. After he had asked me the regular questions, and I had answered them, he asked me what was my method of admitting probationers into full membership at the expiration of six months; also, if I admitted seekers of religion after they had . given satisfactory evidence that they desired to flee from the wrath to come and be saved from their sins, upon the recommendation of their class-leader, after having met with the class six months. I said that I admitted all such into full membership. Said he, "You are not Methodistical in that particular ; for none ought to be admitted before they profess religion." " Well," said I, "before I can change my practice I must have higher authority." He replied, "I shall have an Episcopal decision next Conference.". It seems that some reporter had un- derstood Bishop Hamline to say that professors of religion alone were to be admitted into full member- ship, and it was published in the Christian Advo- cate.
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The Bishop discovered and corrected it as follows: " CORRECTION. "NEW YORK, June 4, 1847.
"REV. MESSRS. BOND & COLES-Dear Brethren,- One thought in the address reported in the Advo- cate was so inaptly set forth by me that it was mis- understood; and as it bears on the Discipline, it were better to notice it. The fifth paragraph, in- stead of reading, 'Our rules require members,' etc., should have expressed the following sentiment: "'Our rules do not require that persons received into our Church profess conversion, and in more than half our bounds they are often received with- out conversion. Possibly there may be fifty thou- sand such, marked "S." on our class-books, as " seek- ers;" and in harmony, too, with our Discipline, which makes " a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and be saved from sin," duly " manifested " the only con- dition. But is there nothing in the Discipline to be set off against these terms of membership? The class is one thing. Here the catechumens mingle with the more mature in grace, enjoy their prayers, and from them, with God's blessing, learn the way. But we can not safely receive and retain members who refuse to visit the class-room, If they become in- curably neglectful, let their names, by due forms, be taken from the class and Church records. I sol- emnly believe that if this plan,' etc., as reported. "I do not know that I used these words, but such is the sentiment I aimed to express. The error is
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not at all surprising, as the remarks were strictly extempore, and no doubt wanting in precision, as hastily uttered thoughts often are.
" Respectfully yours, L. L. HAMLINE."
At the next quarterly meeting I asked the elder if he was still of the same opinion respecting the reception of seekers into the Church. "Yes," said he; and then very confidently quoted Bishop Ham- line's views, as published in the Christian Advocate. I then handed him the correction. He read it over twice; and I then requested him to read it to the members of the quarterly conference, which he refused to do. This was the last I heard, however, of an Episcopal decision, on receiving seekers into full membership.
In 1844, when I traveled Milford circuit, John Hunter was my colleague. It was his first year. He was a young man of great promise, and, al- though his attainments were limited, had more than ordinary ability. Luke Hitchcock was my presiding elder. This year was the first and only time that any thing like a charge ever came up against me at Conference. This charge was for maladministration.
Brother M. had been on trial for several years, and he wished to be admitted into full membership, and if not found worthy, that he might be dropped out of probation. As there were some members who were bitterly opposed to his admission, on ac- .count of some reports not favorable to him having
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been circulated, in order to decide the matter satis- factorily to all parties, I gave M. the privilege, which he wished, of answering to all the charges or complaints which were afloat concerning him, before a number of male members of the Church. This was more than the. Discipline required, yet I wished to give all a fair chance. I thought it the most satisfactory course to pursue, and when he was permitted to answer for himself, the committee de- cided that nothing worthy of "death or of bonds" could be found against him. He came up the next day for admission. The class-leader and nearly all of the class were present, and I then said : "If any one has any objections to this brother, let him speak now, or let him hereafter hold his peace." There being no objections raised, I then received him into full membership. One of our preachers, hearing of the matter, objected to the manner in which I put the question. He said that I should have asked the class-leader if he could recommend him, and made out a charge against me. When the Bishop asked Hitchcock, my presiding elder, if there was any charge against me, he said: "There is nothing against brother Beggs." "Yes," said the preacher, "there is a charge of maladministration." The Bishop asked the elder again : "Is there anything against brother Beggs?" and he again replied : "There is nothing." Said the Bishop: "Pass his character." And here ended the charge of mal- administration.
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I give a sketch of the life of the Rev. John Sin- clair, to whom reference has been frequently made in this volume. He was born in Virginia. At the age of five years he came with his father into East Tennessee, and there, in the midst of privations and many hinderances to intellectual training, he remained during his boyhood. The opportunity for attending school was limited; the qualifications of teachers were very inferior. Brother Sinclair used to relate that his first teacher in East Tennessee was a Mr. Rowe, who could read and write a little. He taught us to pronounce the vowels as follows: A was able- some, fa; E was eblesome, fe; I was iblesome, fi; O, oblesome, fo; U, ublesome, fu; Y, yblesome, fy; & was called ampersand; and Z was called izzard, or zed. Rowe knew nothing about figures. In spelling Aaron, it was, Great A, wee a, r-o-n. The few advantages, however, that he possessed in rela- tion to acquisition of letters in the schools, he la- bored to improve under very trying and peculiar circumstances. He states in relation to himself, that by reading by fire-light, he was enabled to re- tain what little learning he had, and made some ad- vancement. He remarked that he had heard it said that "A little learning is a dangerous thing," but he had never had enough to expose him to that danger.
At the age of twenty, with his father and family, he removed to Kentucky, and on the 19th of Feb- ruary, in 1819, he was married to Lydia Short, who
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is now his bereaved widow. It was about one year after this when God forgave his sins, and renewed his heart in so gracious and powerful a manner, that he could never doubt the change that was wrought. Shortly after his conversion he was made a class- leader, and soon the impression was made upon his mind that he ought to preach the Gospel. This im- pression seems to have at first found no response in his companion. Many now dread the trials of an itinerant life; many still look upon it as connected with privations that they could not endure, but, compared with what then must have been presented to any one that would dare look into the future be- fore engaging in such a work, it must now be an easy task. How she felt as to any particular trial I do not know. We learn, however, from a little scrap that he has left, probably written in 1855, that one night, when he supposed that all were asleep, and that no one on earth knew any thing of his anxiety, when struggling in relation to his duty, he heard a voice, of which he says, "It was not the voice of God-it was not the voice of an angel, but it was the voice of my wife, saying, 'Go, and do all the good you can.'" This was in September, 1825, and some time between the 15th and 20th of that month he was admitted on trial in the Kentucky Conference. In 1831, however, having for some time felt that the existence of slavery in the State of Kentucky was a serious thing, and dreading its consequences upon after generations-and this was
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the feeling generally of Methodist ministers at that time-he resolved to take a transfer to the Illinois Conference. He came, and was appointed to the Jacksonville circuit. Here his labors in this State commenced. They continued till, perhaps, 1836, when they were slightly interrupted, and he sus- tained a supernumerary relation, and took work in Peoria. It was probably in 1846 that for one year he was returned upon the Minutes as superannuated. With the exception of these brief interruptions, till here he took the superannuated relation, each year, from the time he came-1831- he continued to per- form "effective labor," and I will add that it was also efficient labor-labor that told favorably upon the Church in building it up in holiness, extending its borders, and multiplying its numbers. I discover from the Minutes, that when, in 1833, he was placed upon the Chicago district, that while it em- braced what now is the city of Chicago, it also took in Galena on the west, and Peoria on the south! Think of such a district as that !- traveling around it !- what is now two Annual Conferences! To this field of labor he went, leaving an afflicted wife in the wilds of Fox River. But privations could not deter him. It was frontier work, a sparse popula- tion, neighborhoods remote from each other, roads without bridges, and vast plains without a stake or mark to direct his course, except the points of tim- ber, miles apart; but he undertook and did accom- plish the work of superintending such a district.
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The next year he was returned to the same district, with a little change. Galena was taken off on the west, but it still extended from Chicago to the San- gamon River on the south, including all the region of country intervening, or Peoria, Bloomington, and all the settlements in that extent. This will give you some idea of his toils and conflicts. I am sorry that I can not give the details of his labors on this extended district. In 1835 he was removed from the Chicago district. . It was a painful occurrence to him, of which he thought and spoke to his own per- sonal friends; and though he felt there was some mistake, still he harbored no resentment, and spoke of it as a man of God. He was placed upon the Sangamon district. I was then in charge of the church at Springfield. Owing to his financial con- dition, his poor health and that of Mrs. Sinclair, it was quite inconvenient, if not almost impossible for him to remove his family. They had been some years on Fox River, five or six miles above the city of Ottawa. He came to one quarterly meeting; he became sick, and nearly five weeks elapsed before he was able to leave. During this time, when I sat by his bedside, laid my hand upon his forehead scorching with fever, I have heard him talk of his invalid wife at home, and tears would wet his pil- low. Yet amidst all the trials of such occurrences I never heard him complain. I never heard him wish he had not entered the work; I never heard him mention a word of retreat; no-it was "Onward !"
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and as soon as he was able to sit alone he was de- . sirous of reaching his home, and by the aid of friends soon set out to accomplish that object.
For several years before his death he was a resi- dent of Evanston-for two years as pastor-and after that till his death as a superannuate. Up to the time that he entered upon this pastoral charge, I had never found a man who cared for consistent practical piety that did not love John Sinclair. Men were so universally impressed with the honesty of this minister and his Christian fidelity, that when, through the common infirmities and weaknesses of our nature, he erred, for I do not pretend to say he did not err-that he was not fallible-none charged him with evil motives. "It was a mistake-it was not intended." He was emphatically, in the judg- ment of men, as the apostle warned the Church to be, "without offense, blameless, harmless-a son of God without rebuke."
When he was tried, God took him to receive his crown. Long was it his wish that he might not linger when called to pass away, and if he did, he earnestly hoped that it might be under circumstances where he could care for himself without troubling- as he was wont to express it-his friends. God favored him in this matter! After all his wander- ings to and fro amidst the pelting storms and the dreary wastes; after his going out and his coming in from an afflicted family for so many years; after all his privations, what a pleasing thought to have him
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