USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 17
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Madison, March 10, 1825. The intervening time has been spent in itinerating through the southeastern section of the state. I have traveled about five hundred miles and preached about fifty times. Have enjoyed good health, been prospered in my journey, been kindly received, and as well accommodated as the circumstances „of new settlements would permit. Have received as a compensa- tion for my services since leaving here five dollars and twenty cents, and have expended in traveling the same sum.1
. 1 A loose leaf of the journal contains the following interesting record : " Arrived within ye bounds of Indiana on ye 7th of December, 1824. Arrived at Madison on ye . 9th. Preached at Madison on ye eve of ye roth from Heb. ii .: 3. Preached on ve Sabbath at Sam'l Ryker's from Rev. iii .: 20. On Thursday eve., 10th, at Madison from Luke xv .: 11-24. On Sabbath, 19th, at Madison, from I l'eter i .: 8, Eccl. xii .: 1, and Matt. v .: 6. On Wednesday eve., 22d, at Vernon, from Eccl. xii .: 1. Thursday eve., 23d, at Mr. Clapp's, Heb. ii .: 3. Friday eve., 24th, at Columbus, Matt. v .: 6. Sab. morn., 26th, at Mr. Young's, Rev. iii .: 20; eve., at Mr. King's, Franklin, Luke xv .: 11-24. Wed. eve., 29th, at Indianapolis, Eccl. xii .: 1. Tues. eve., Jan. 4, at Mr. Smock's, Matt. v .: 6. Wed. eve., 5th, at Mr. Morgan's, on Sugar Creek, Rev. iii .: 20. Thur. eve., at Shelby- ville, Heb. ii .: 3. Sat. eve., 8th, at Greensburglı, Rev. iii .: 20. Sab., 9th, Rom. vi .: 23, Luke xv .: 11-24. Mon. eve., roth, at Mrs. Hamilton's, Isa. lv .: 6. Tues. eve., at Wm. Throp's, Heb. ii .: 3. Thurs. eve., 13th, at Mr. Dounell's, Matt. xxv .: 1-13. Frid. eve., 14th, at Mr. Antrobus', 'The rich man and Lazarus.' Sab. morn., 15th, at Cyrus Hamilton's, I Peter i .: 8; eve., at Mr. Collins', 2 Peter iii .: 18. Thur., 12 o'clock, at Rushville, Heb. ii .: 3; eve., Luke xv .: 11~24. Sab. eve., Jan. 23, 1 Peter i .: 8. Mon. eve., 24tlı, at Mr. Brownlee's, Matt. xxv .: 1-13. Tues. eve., 25th, at Connersville, Rev. iii .: 20. Wed., 12 o'clock, at Mr. Bell's, Matt. v .: 6. Wed. eve., at Dunlapsville, lleb. ii .: 3. 'Thur. eve., 27th, at Bath, Matt. xxv .: 1-13. F'rid. eve., 28th, at Mr. Sering's, Isa. lv .: 6. Sat. eve., 29tlı, at Mr. Murphy's, Amos iv .: 12. Sab. morn., 30th, Batlı, Eccl. xii .: 1 ; eve., at Mr. Simonson's, Cedar Grove, Luke xv .: 11-24. Monday, 31st, at Mr. Gouday's, 2 Peter iii .: 18. Wed., Feb. 2d, 12 o'clock, at Esq. Cox's, Amos iv .: (2. Thur., 3d, at 12 o'clock, at Mr. Bell's, Rev. iii .: 20. Sat. eve., 5th, at Rushville, Rev. iii .: 20. Sab., 12 o'clock, Eccl. xii .: 1. Sab. eve., Matt. xxv .: 1-13. Wed. eve., 9tli, at Cole's settlement, I Peter i .: 8. Sab. eve., 13th, at Indpls, I Peter i .: 8. Tues., 12 . o'clock, 15th, at Franklin, Matt. xxv .: 1-13. Wed., 16th, 12 o'clock, at Edinburgh, Heb. ii .: 3. Sab. morn., 20th, at Bloomington, 1 Peter i .: 8. Thurs. eve., 24tlı, at Mr. : Steele's, Rev. iii .: 20. Sab. morn., 27th, at Mr. Reed's place of worship, Heb. ii .: 3. Mon. eve., 28th, at Spenser, Amos iv .: 12. Sab. eve., Mar. 6th, at Mr. Smock's, 'Ye Rich Man and Lazarus.' Mon. eve., Mar. 7tlı, at Franklin, Matt. v .: 6. Tues. eve., . at Columbus, Rev. iii .: 20. Wed. eve., gtlı, at Vernon, I Peter i .: S. Preached from ·the time that I left Madison to ye time that I returned fifty times. Traveled about 500 miles in all."
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Monday, October 3d. After having spent a number of months in a very pleasant manner, preaching to this people, the church and congregation have this day made out a unanimous call for me to become their pastor. I know no place where I would more willingly take up my permanent abode and no people to whom I would more cheerfully become united in the endearing relation of pastor.
Thursday, October 20th. This has been to me a most solemn and interesting day. Salem Presbytery convened here yesterday, and having received me under their care, attended to the requisite examinations and trials, and to-day they have installed me as. pastor of this church.1 Rev. John Finley Crowe preached the sermon ; Rev. John M. Dickey presided and gave the charges to myself and to the congregation and also offered the consecrating prayer ; Rev. Alexander Williamson and Rev. Tilly HI. Brown were also present and united in the imposition of hands.
April 17, 1826. I am this day to set off on a journey to the East for the purpose of visiting my friends and attending the meeting of the General Assembly at Philadelphia.
July 28. After a long absence from my people I have this day been permitted to return. I have visited my father's family and other relatives and friends, and attended as I expected the General Assembly.2 Found one of my sisters on a bed of lan- guishing and death. Before the close of my visit 1 witnessed her decease. It is my earnest prayer that I may be as well prepared for death as slie appeared to be. My visit, though on many accounts interesting, has not afforded me so much enjoyment as I anticipated. My mind dwelt much upon the dear people of my charge. The interest I feel in their spiritual welfare I found to be greater when separated from them than I was aware of when with them. Madison appears to me the dearest place on earth.
The missionary, now fully established upon his field, found opportunities for useful labor rapidly multiplying. The Indiana Missionary Society, at first auxiliary to the Assembly's Committee of Missions, but at the fourth annual meeting, August 4, 1826, made tributary to the American Home Missionary Society, on Mr. Johnston's
1 He was at the same time ordained .- " Minutes Salem Presbytery," Vol. I., p. 36.
2 The petition from Salem Presbytery for a division into three Presbyteries he success- fully presented to the Assembly .- " Minutes Salem Presbytery," Vol. I., pp. 33, 34.
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arrival in the state, placed him upon the executive commit- tee. He also became the society's secretary. Mission- aries from the East were instructed to report to him, and were by him apprised of the fields selected for them.1 He was thus required to assume the burden of an extensive correspondence and to acquaint himself by frequent ex- plorations with the whole territory. Large packages of letters received from students in the seminaries, and from missionaries recently arrived, together with official com- munications from every quarter, show the high esteem in which he was held and the conscientious assiduity of his service.
The more we study the spirit and purposes of the men who founded our church in Indiana the more we are com- pelled to admire their zeal, their faith in God, and the wisdom and breadth of their plans for God's kingdom. But there is a painful sense of the extreme poverty of the means at their command. The effort to systematize missionary operations in the state was attended with severe sacrifices on the part of all our oldest and most useful men. But besides the Missionary Society they undertook the establishment of state benevolent societies in behalf of the Bible, the tract cause, temperance, etc. They fostered education and wrought unitedly for the Hanover Academy. A theological department was founded and professors were secured. In all these far-reaching plans Mr. Johnston was prominent. When, in addition, the publishing of a religious newspaper as the organ of the Indiana Missionary Society was contemplated, he, in consideration both of his qualifications for the trust and of his convenient location, was by all approved for the editorial chair. To this latter undertaking he makes the following reference in his diary :
1 The missionaries of the A. H. M. S. upon this field were "located " by the Indiana :society. See Johnston's " Forty Years in Indiana," p. 9.
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
June 27, 1828. Have this day commenced the publication of a. religious periodical. What will be the result of this undertaking and how long it will be prosecuted is very uncertain. I have engaged with no very sanguine hopes of success. Have been in- fluenced by the advice of a number of my brethren. Through God's blessing religion may be subserved by this humble periodical.
The Indiana Religious Intelligencer, started without capital, with no support but the faith of a few missionaries whose annual income reached all the way from fifty to four hundred dollars, without a single salaried assistant, was published in the wilderness for eighteen months, and in a modest sphere was useful. With such scanty resources it was impossible, however, to maintain a rivalry with old and. well-supported journals. The last and seventy-first num- ber appeared January 29, 1830. No doubt the work of the printers, at first C. P. J. Arion and afterward Arion & Lodge, had often to be in great part a labor of love. "It is now my desire and determination," observes Mr. Johnston, "to devote myself more exclusively and more. zealously than ever to the work of the ministry."
Meanwhile, March 26, 1829, he had been united in marriage with Mrs. Eliza Ann McChord, and had again. visited his early home in New York. When the organiza- tion of a second church was effected in Madison he continued there as pastor of the new flock. For a single year he exchanged labors with the Rev. Henry Little, agent of the American Home Missionary Society. As stated clerk of Synod during the sad period of strife within. our church he was required to assume grave responsibili- ties, and then exhibited qualities which won the admiration of opponents and friends.
Finally, in 1843, he removed to Crawfordsville and for eight years was pastor of Centre Church. In 1851 he became principal of the female seminary at Crawfordsville,
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continuing in that position for about four years. From 1854 to the summer of 1866 he led a laborious life of mis- sionary service, statedly preaching at Perrysville, Coving- ton, Eugene, Newport, Brown's Valley, and Parkersburgh, and frequently accepting calls for labor in yet other localities. In 1866 Centre Church, Crawfordsville, secured his services and during the succeeding winter nearly one hundred names were added to the roll. "As if to give a peculiarly splendid crown to his long period of service God blessed his ministry with the most remarkable revival ever experienced in the town." In August, 1867, he became pastor emeritus, retiring from active duty in the ministry. Having three years before preached for the last time, after a slow and peaceful decline he fell asleep March 8, 1876, and two days later, on the fifty-first anniversary of the commencement of his labors as pastor at Madison, he was laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery.
In person tall and slender, of a grave countenance and demeanor, Mr. Johnston united great gentleness with unusual firmness and force. Not insensible to argument, his opinion when intelligently formed was with difficulty shaken. He inherited Colonel Witter Johnston's stead- fastness. " He is well remembered by the older residents of Sidney Plains as an amiable young man, remarkable for his diligence in the pursuit of knowledge, his freedom from the frivolities and excesses of youth, and perhaps more than all for his strictly conscientious deportment and exemplary religious character, which dates back almost to his earliest childhood." '
Ex-President Woolsey of Yale College writes : 2
Mr. Johnston and I were classmates at Princeton in 1821, 1822, and 1823. In the last-mentioned year I left Princeton to be a tutor in Yale College. I have had a little correspondence with him
1 " Sidney Centennial," p. 90.
2 MS. letter dated June 30, 1876.
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since then by letter, but I believe that we have never met since thay time. I esteemed and respected Mr. Johnston more perhaps than any other of my classmates. I had entire confidence in his character as a Christian man, and respected his manliness and soundness of judgment. We agreed then in our theology, and I always thought him cut out, as it were, to be a minister. It is now fifty-two years since our Princeton days, and the impression he made on me was so positive that I have never failed or abated in my respect for him. His traits of mind and character, as they presented themselves to me, were great soundness of judgment in practical matters, an uncommon amount of principle, and a solidity of character on which I could entirely rest. We all thought highly of his abilities, though he had nothing brilliant about him. He was a model to the class.1
What Mr. Johnston was in youth, and later in his student days, that he continued to be in old age, perhaps growing in mellowness and cheerfulness as the years in- creased. .
I have just been calling [says President Tuttle] on the vener- able patriarch of our church in Indiana, the Rev. James H. Johnston. There was no special reason for the call beyond the pleasure it brought the visitor himself. To-day I find him as cheerful and even hilarious as he ought to have been when so many years ago he dismounted in that pretty town on the Ohio for the first time. I have not heard a merrier laugh in many a day than his, as he told me of the inquiries made by himself and his traveling companion for a suitable stopping-place at Rising Sun, when on his first journey westward. They were told of a Major Jelly as keeping a sort of "ministers' tavern," and asked their informant if the major was a pious man. "He's only middling," was the reply. After his hearty laugh Mr. Johnston added, "We found the major was not a church member, but his wife was, and they gave us a cordial welcome."?
1 To an official letter dated : " Office of the A. H. M. S., 87 Nassau Street, January 4, 1827," and signed, " Absalom Peters by T. D. Woolsey," the following postscript is appended : " My dear friend, I know not that I should have fulfilled my promise made in the spring, of writing to you, if I had not been called to do it in this official manner. I am at present performing the duties of an assistant secretary of the A. H. M. S. until an individual can be found to take the place permanently and am happy that it has fallen to my lot to correspond with you. Ever yours, T. D. W."
2 A communication dated December 9, 1872, and printed in the "Sidney Centennial Volume," pp. 90, 91.
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February 5, 1865, Mr. Johnston delivered at Crawfords- ville an historical discourse describing "A Ministry of Forty Years in Indiana." The sermon was published, and not only preserves many valuable facts but uninten- tionally proves how large a part he himself was of the early days. Yet he says :1
It is but an humble part I have borne. But I have great cause for thankfulness for the uniform health and strength that have been vouchsafed. Few, indeed, have been the Sabbaths, through- out this whole period, on which I have been prevented from preaching by bodily indisposition. And with the exception of four years, in which my duties in connection with Crawfordsville Female Seminary required my whole attention, I have seldom failed to preach on the Sabbath from any cause. The wonder is that I have been permitted to labor so long. Scott and Martin and Matthews and Dickey and Crowe, and very many others much younger than they, have passed away. Of the eight ministers that were present at the first meeting of the Synod of Indiana in 1826, I am the only one now living, and of the fifteen that consti- tuted the whole number of Presbyterian ministers in the state in 1825, all are in their graves but myself.
But now, perhaps, the fellowship alluded to in a letter addressed to him by Albert Barnes has been attained, and not with his college friend alone, but also with his fellow- laborers upon this western field.
I showed you yesterday the spot where I shall soon enter on my long, last sleep, and it is not improbable that my eyes will be closed in that long slumber before they will look on you again. Yet we shall not sleep in the sense that we shall, in no respect, be awake and conscious. In that spirit world of which we talked, and of which we felt that we knew so little, I trust we may often meet, before the archangel's trump shall awake the slumber of our graves.2
1 " Forty Years in Indiana," pp. 27, 28.
2 Johnston's "Sermon on the Death of Albert Barnes," p. 13.
CHAPTER XV.
A PERIOD OF INCREASED MISSIONARY ZEAL.
1825.
NEW and more earnest discussions of the problems of domestic missions were just now prominent in influential circles of religious thought throughout the older states. Especially were the young men and the professors in the theological seminaries aroused. It has been seen what Princeton had done for Indiana alone during the year 1824. There was the same wise enthusiasm at Andover. An important result of the missionary revival was the attempt to concentrate and thus to economize effort, and the consequent establishment of a national organization- the American Home Missionary Society.1 There had thus far been a great variety of small local societies? ; there was now to be a system of labor for the whole land. In this enterprise the Presbyterians were largely and for the time happily united with the Congregationalist, the Reformed (Dutch) Church, and other evangelical Christians.
Growing out of the awakened interest in domestic mis- sions at least six young men in the senior class of Andover Seminary
had already decided to devote themselves to missionary labors in the western or southern portions of our country. These were Hiram Chamberlain, Augustus Pomeroy, Lucius Alden, John M. Ellis, Luther G. Bingham, and Aaron Foster. In looking about for some society under whose patronage and commission they might go forth, Mr. Bingham applied to the Connecticut Mission-
1 For a valuable though not altogether dispassionate account of the origin of the A. H. M. S. see The Home Missionary, Vol. XLIX, No. 1.
2 Cf. Appendix I.
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ary Society ; under the advice and agency of Rev. Dr. Porter, Mr. Foster made application to the Charleston (S. C.) Domestic Missionary Society, and the others to the United Domestic Missionary Society of New York. Upon request of this latter society, as suggested by Rev. Dr. Porter, four of the above-named young men-namely, Pomeroy, Alden, Ellis, and Bingham-on the evening of the day after the anniversary, that is the 29th of September, 1825-were ordained as missionaries by a council called for the purpose in the Old South Church, Boston.
Mr. Chamberlain, being a member of Rev. Dr. Spring's church in New York, received ordination from a Presbytery. Mr. Foster, in connection with two or three other classmates, found it convenient to be ordained, October 19, 1825, in Rutland, Vt. And agreeably to an understanding with the executive committee in New York- who had agreed to take three of these young missionaries under their patronage-a request was made by said executive committee that a council should be called in Boston for their ordination. As this occasion was new, so it was one of great interest, and "was attended by persons interested in the prosperity of Zion from various parts of the United States." Rev. Matthias Bruen, of New York, preached the sermon from I Cor. iv .: 1; Rev. Brown Emerson, of Salem, Mass., offered the ordaining prayer ; Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D.D., of New York, gave the charge ; and Rev. Justin Edwards, of Andover, presented the right hand of fellow- ship.
Thus set apart for the missionary work, Mr. Alden went to Indiana, Mr. Ellis to Illinois, Mr. Pomeroy to Missouri, where, in St. Louis, he met his friend, Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, under commission likewise from the United Domestic Missionary Society of New York. Rev. Mr. Bingham went to Ohio, under the patronage of the Connecticut Missionary Society, and for several years was pastor of the church at Marietta. Rev. Mr. Foster went to South Carolina, and was for a while pastor of the Presbyterian church in Pendleton.1
LUCIUS ALDEN had been one of the committee of six appointed by the "Society of Inquiry" at Andover, April 12, 1825, to foster the interest in domestic missions throughout the Christian community. He received his first commission from the U. D. M. S.
1 The Home Missionary, May, 1876, p. 4.
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One hundred dollars was granted him as an outfit to bear his expenses to the field of his contemplated ministry, with the expectation that he would locate himself where the principal part of his support would be paid by the people. We are now happy to state, from the reports of Mr. Alden, that after a tour of about eight weeks, in which he seems to have embraced, with great fidelity and zeal, every opportunity of subserving the cause of Christ, he became located on the 8th of January, 1826, in the town of Aurora, Dearborn County, Ind., where his prospects of ex- tended and increasing usefulness are such as to satisfy this committee that he has been wisely directed to that as the field of his future labors. Our missionary has been received with great cordiality by the people of that place and vicinity, and there is a prospect that they will be able to sustain a large portion of his support. With the exception of one Dearborn is the most populous county in the state and previous to the arrival of our missionary had no Presbyterian minister within its bounds.1
Reference is made to Mr. Alden in the official records of the two subsequent years :
His labors appear to have been acceptable to the people and highly useful in the places above named [Lawrenceburgh and Aurora] and in several of the neighboring congregations, particu- larly in Cæsar-Creek township, Broome County, Ky., where he has preached occasionally. As Lawrenceburgh is the seat of justice and Aurora the seat of a flourishing school, which has grown up under the fostering care of our missionary, these are re- garded by the committee as very interesting and important locations. 2
The reports from these congregations [says the society the following year] have been interesting. Our missionary has been instrumental in forming four Sabbath-schools with libraries, one of which has one hundred scholars and eighteen teachers, and all of which are flourishing.3
With his other work Mr. Alden was able also to give some attention to the Hopewell church, near Dillsboro. 4
1 Fourth Report of U. D. M. S., p. 22.
2 Report of A. H. M. S., May, 1827, p. 12.
3 Report of A. H. M. S., May, 1828, p. 11.
4 Stewart's " History of Whitewater Presbytery," p. 23.
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In 1830 his field was "Rising Sun, Cæsar Creek, and vicinity," and on July 7th of that year he writes to the secretary of the Indiana Missionary Society as follows :
Within this field of labor are three small churches of the Presby- terians. We have one place of worship completed and arrange- ments are making to erect two others. We have a temperance society of one hundred and fifty members which has effected much good, diminishing the sale of ardent spirits three fourths in about six months, and some intemperate persons have been, we hope, thoroughly reformed. We have a tract society and have ex- pended about twenty dollars for tracts. Considerable has been done to supply the destitute with Bibles. Our Sunday-schools prosper and generally have libraries. A seminary of learning for the higher branches has been established, and considerably well sustained. Yet almost all here is yet to be done. A little pre- paratory work, however, has been accomplished. I am now to visit the East, and leave this people only with the prospect of occasional supplies from Presbytery.
Princeton Seminary also continued its benefactions to the West, furnishing this year three new men to Indiana. LEWIS MCLEOD came from the U. D. M. S., having obtained his commission a few days earlier than Mr. Alden.
One hundred dollars was granted him as an outfit, with the expectation that he would be able to select a location where his support after reaching the field of his labors would be derived principally from the people. Our missionary writes us from Har- rison in that state1 under date of March 13, 1826, that having visited several places in Indiana, which present very interesting and important fields for missionary enterprise, he has at length con- cluded to spend the summer on the White Waters, chiefly in the county of Dearborn. This he has found to be a very destitute region, and one which presents great encouragement to the faith- ful labors of a minister of Christ .?
After traveling extensively in the state Mr. McLeod, however, finally located himself at Augusta, Ky.
1 Harrison was in Ohio.
2 Report of the U. D). M. S., May, 1826, p. 34.
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JAMES STEWART served the Rushville church for a few months, and for a similar brief period labored in the south- western part of the state.
SAMUEL GREGG, a licentiate of New Brunswick Pres- bytery, was a Tennessean by birth, tall, spare, bent, with thin cheeks, a good man, and a good preacher. After five months of horseback service in Bartholomew, Shelby, and Johnson Counties, he was ordained by Madison Pres- bytery, October 7, 1826, and installed as pastor of Jeffer- son church. 1 Here he remained for about ten years, when he returned to his native state and took charge of the Mt. Zion and Meadow Creek churches. Once more taking a parish in Indiana he connected himself with the Presby- tery of Crawfordsville, but his health soon failed and his name appears upon the obituary roll presented to the Assembly (N. S.) of 1843.
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