USA > Ohio > Early history of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio : with biographical sketches of the principal agents in their religious movement > Part 20
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March 19th, 1835, in his twenty-second year, he was married to Miss Maria Meecham, whose tastes and intel- lectual endowments were in perfect coincidence with his own. This proved to be one of the happiest of unions. With views, aims and purposes the same, and both possessed of great energy, and abounding in hope, they accumulated a competence, founded a house, and established a name which will long survive their own generation. For two or three years he taught winters, and summers gave his ener- gies to the clearing of his forest farm.
But, though ambitious, his purposes of life had not been lifted above the attainment of a comfortable home and an honorable position in society. His heart was yet unblessed with the light and truth of the gospel. I quote here his journal : " I was wild and unconcerned about Christianity
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most of the time. When I was about nineteen, I attended a meeting or two held by Foot, a revivalist of the Presby- terian order, and did all they told me to do, but did not get an evidence of pardon, and was afterwards rather skeptical. I occasionally heard the Disciples preach, and on the 28th of May, 1837, I was immersed by John Henry, and united with the church."
It is of special interest to pause and note the workings of his mind, and the disposing causes which acted in this happy and eventful change in his heart and life. In him existed that rare and admirable adjustment of the moral and the rational natures by which faith is sought, but which refuses to believe without rational evidence. He longed for "religion." He sought for "grace." But though he eagerly and earnestly sought, human promises and ex- pedients failed to satisfy his strong mind, which desired a firm foundation on which his soul could lean so important a trust. Hence his disappointment ; and hence his relapse into skepticism-a dark and dismal despondency from which a rare man and mighty power alone could lift him. In the guidings of a good Providence, such a man came. In this state of his heart, John Henry, whose name is a synonym for peerless power, came to "the Burgh," in Ba- zetta, to preach the gospel. When Henry preached all men heard. Smith came, heard, learned, and believed. Such preaching he could understand. It was the word of the Lord, instead of the word of man. The men were much alike in mental activities and social life. It was David and Jonathan. Each kindled life in the other, and both were greater men.
From this time forward, Calvin Smith was a new man ; but his great work of life had not yet commenced. June 26, 1839, he was chosen Justice of the Peace by the suf- frages of his townsmen. This office he filled for nearly eight years, and discharged its duties with fidelity and pop- ularity. "During this period," he says, "I paid more
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attention to the law than the gospel." In truth, he was rising into acquaintance and esteem with the business men and leading citizens of the county. The difficult and try- ing duties of his office he managed with skill in some im- portant legal cases which came before him; and, young as he was, he manifested no ordinary talent in that posi- tion. He won the confidence of the members of the legal profession, and he began to be talked of as a candidate for the legislature.
But other honors awaited him, and another destiny was before him. "Before honor goes humility." The ap- plause of the world is not the praise of God. In the " midst of all his duties now rapidly accumulating, he never wavered in his faith in the Lord Jesus, nor in his walk with the church. The church was much enlivened and edified by his zeal. He preached occasionally for them till, December 19, 1844, the church gave him letters as an evangelist. This widened his sphere of usefulness. He visited other churches, preaching on the Lord's day, and contributed very much to their growth in grace and knowl- edge. About four years he spent in this manner, dividing his time between preaching and the labors of his farm. At length the time came. for him to cut the cable and launch upon the sea.
November 30, 1848, commenced his first protracted meeting. He was now thirty-five years old. It was not far from his own home, a place on the line between the townships of Champion and Bazetta. No church was there, and every thing seemed discouraging. Storms swept along the sky and over the earth, so that the meeting, which was opened with a fair attendance, dwindled down to eight persons. A noble opportunity to prove the ster- ling qualities of character, which won the victory for him on many a hard contested field ! On the sixth night, only eighteen auditors, and four of them yielded to the gospel appeal and confessed the Lord. This meeting resulted in
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twenty-seven conversions, and the establishment of a new church of thirty-five members, which has continued in existence ever since. Before this time, however, he had seen souls awakened and converted through his ministry. In the summer of 1848, in company with Bro. James Had- sell, he held a meeting in Johnson, in his own township, with sixteen conversions.
From this time may be dated the commencement of that brilliant career in the gospel which has made the name of Calvin Smith so widely known, and so dear to thousands. His active and energetic labors spread over a period of about ten years; but as his health was very poor during the last two years, only about eight years can be assigned for the achievements of Herculean labors which are a source of amazement. Wherever he went crowds gathered, and seldom did he quit the field without many captives for Christ. Often a single discourse in a place would bring several souls to repentance. His travels included most of the counties in North-eastern Ohio, and extended to the mountains in Pennsylvania, to New England, New York, and beyond the Mississippi in the West. The labors of a long life were condensed into these eight or nine years.
In his trip to New England he was accompanied by Bro. J. T. Phillips, of New Castle, Pa. They started in No- vember, 1853, and spent about two months. The chief object of this visit was not so much immediate conversions, as the sowing of seed to ripen into a harvest for others to reap ; still there were a number brought to Christ during the trip. He made a trip to Eastern New York, and con- ducted a meeting in Poestenkill, December, 1855.
His longest trip abroad was one of five months, the ut- most terminus of which was Dubuque, Iowa. He started on this tour August 14, 1855, and arrived at home Janu- ary 30, 1856. He intended to visit his particular friends, the Soules, and the Robinsons, late of Russell, Ohio, and hold a meeting at their present residence in Iona County,
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Michigan; but finding sickness among them, he tarried a few days, and proceeded westward to Wisconsin, and made a stand at Hazle Green. Here he preached twelve days and visited fifty-three families to converse with them on the gospel.
He went to Lancaster and to Platteville. At the latter place, sect prejudice raged so violently that the Methodist and Presbyterian meeting-houses were both shut against him. He began in a school-house, but after a few days this also was closed. The citizens then rallied, obtained a hall, fitted it up commodiously, and the meeting went on without the interruption of a day. The meeting was a great success in teaching the people and in gathering souls into the kingdom. January 4th, 1856, he commenced a meeting in Dubuque, Iowa, and continued it twenty-three days, closing on the 27th of the month. The interest arose to a great height. There were seventeen additions. The cold was intense, the thermometer some days 30 below zero.
This was his last meeting for a year; and, indeed he never recuperated from the overpowering drafts on his physical energies. He preached during that meeting every day-yet he spit blood daily, and was constantly taking medicine. From this time to the close of his life he was able to preach but little. The last of his preaching was in his own church in Bazetta, February, 1867, of one week preparatory to a meeting held there by the writer of these sketches; and one in Lordstown of a few days, to which he went while I was yet in Bazetta. I well remember him as he was then, emaciate and frail, but abiding in faith, and abounding in zeal, as when health was his in fullest meas- ure. It is a touching remembrance to call to mind how we endeavored to dissuade him from going to Lordstown, and his replies from a voice once so ringing and clear, now so consumptive and plaintive : "I shall live only a little time," he said, "and I may do some good by going."
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He went. Let his own hand tell the rest, in a note writ- ten by him two months afterward :
" Came home, had an attack of lung fever; sick a long time, and from this sickness I shall never recover. It is now December 15, 1858, and I have not been able to speak a discourse or do any labor; and now I am con- fined to the house, and will ere long die with consumption. When I die, I hope some one will record my death, and I will leave the record for those interested in it."
This is his last written note of his life. The next lines are by another hand :
" Died on the 13th of January, 1859, Calvin Smith, in the 45th year of his age, of consumption. His work is done, and he is entered into rest. He lived and died a Christian-labored for the good of man-stood up for Jesus, and went home to heaven.
" Keep us, O Lord, that we may meet him at thy right hand."
A few weeks before his death he gave his Bible to Bro. Edwin Wakefield, with a request that he preach his funeral from the following words: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv: 13. This solemn duty was ably performed in the presence of a large and weeping assembly. His widowed companion, six daughters and an only living son, followed him, and " beheld where they laid him."
"Alas! alas! my brother," wrote Bro. William Hay- den, who visited him a short time before his death, "how was my spirit crushed in parting with thee! How sweet was thy spirit ! How true was thy devotion to that gos- pel which pours floods of light and immortality on death's dark hour! Thou hast obtained the true ambition. On thy tombstone it should be written : 'He died at his post ; ' and in heaven it will be said, ' He turned many to right-
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eousness.' How blest the righteous when he dies! How good to be embalmed in the affections of the pure in heart ! May my memory be blest as thine, and my last hours be like thine, my brother."
It would be impossible to convey in words an adequate conception of his state of mind at departing. So calm, so serene, so strong in faith, so cheerful in hope! Most tenderly devoted to his family, he heard no murmur or sigh. His religion was not a mere sentiment nor a pas- sion. It was a faith which actualizes the "things hoped for"-a faith which saw the things invisible. What a heaven was that home for weeks before his departure ! Few visitors could be admitted, but it was all the better ; he was all the more sacred to his dear companion, who would have died with him, and to his children, to whom, in the serene blessedness of these most hallowed scenes, he was illustrating the faith in Jesus which he had so ex- tensively preached to the world.
The hour, came, and he slept; slept sweetly and in peace. Aged 45 years, 2 months, 14 days.
Though short the time of his ministry, fifteen hundred and thirty-six souls were by him turned to God, and bap- tized into the Lord Jesus, besides over three hundred who united with the churches during and under his labors. He was an early and decided friend of the Missionary cause. He saw in this effort to associate the brethren in a great evangelical enterprise, a coming hope for the churches, to lead them into a closer unity and a better order. A large proportion of his great and successful labors was under the auspices of the Missionary Society.
Bro. Smith was, in person, of full medium height, in weight about one hundred and fifty. His eye was the pic- ture of quickness and ready discernment ; his countenance was highly engaging and agreeable. He was a ready talker, blunt and rapid in speech, exhaustless in illustration and anecdote. There was a fine flowing vein of humor in his
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heart, which, with his hopeful and cheerful temperament, made him a most animated, social, and instructive com- panion. His intuitive perception of character was a marked trait of his mental capacities. He was seldom mistaken in his man.
It is needless to say that a nature so decided and marked in peculiar features, carried itself into his audiences, and under the animation of the force and enthusiasm with which he commonly moved on in his sermons, he bore the delighted hearers along with him to the conclusions which he sought to impress.
In this place it would be wrong to omit mention of some of the causes of his marvelous effectiveness in his work. Among these, his habit of visiting the people wherever he went, should be prominently mentioned. He was an untiring and most industrious visitor. He always visited ; went every-where ; made religious calls among the people, in their houses, at their workshops, on their farms. Wherever they were, he found them, talked with them, and often prayed where prayers were never before heard. These were not dull, dry, demure visitations. He was a man of the people, with the people. They saw this. He could tell them about common things, and showed himself a man with them in the experiences and knowledges of common life. His abounding sympathies went to the house and home of poverty, and cheered into life and hope hearts that never felt their blessed warmth before. It was nothing uncommon for him to visit thirty, forty and sixty and seventy families during a single meet- ing. The highest number I see recorded in his journal is one hundred and six during a single meeting. In these labors from house to house he omitted none, of whatever rank, or condition, or creed. He broke through all bar- riers, nor allowed either prejudice or religious belief to prevent his getting to the people. Christ died for them,
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and his it was to reach all, teach all, convert all it was possible to gain.
Be sure-ye indolent, ease-loving sermon makers, that the people are God's great militia ; they are his army. And the man who interests himself in the people, will, find the people interested in him and his message to them.
His style of speech was plain, clear, pointed and forci- ble. Though rapid in utterance, his enunciation was per- fectly intelligible. The words came full and rounded from his tongue. He had no pedantry nor artistic airs. His illustrations, always pertinent and pointed, were from com- mon things. They were so clear and appropriate, the people felt in them the force of demonstration.
He believed what he preached. The intense earnestness of his faith carried its convictions to every mind. None doubted his sincerity. All saw his earnestness. The sub- ordinate arts of embellishment were nothing to him. “I believed, therefore have I spoken." The word of God was true ; he knew, he felt it true, and he made the people feel it too. The grand realities of heaven, of hell, life, death, eternity and a judgment to come, were no toys in his hand.
" When the son of man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth?" Much of the preaching of this age can scarcely be called even a solemn farce! So vapid and volatile, trope, phrase, and dignity in relief; Christ, sin and salvation shaded in the background !
I am conscious this sketch will, by some, be regarded as long drawn out. But to thousands, it will be felt to be far too meager, while to one precious circle, where he was vastly more than king, it will seem all imperfection. I dare not say how much I loved him. Let this and a thou- sand other precious memories be as seed sown, to spring up into a full harvest of joy and holy fellowships when the saints arise in the likeness of Jesus, who is our life and our everlasting hope.
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CHURCHES FOUNDED BY HIM.
I. Between Champion and Bazetta, 35 members, De- cember, 1848.
2. Fowler, 33 members, March, 1851.
3. Mecca, 23 members, March, 1851.
4. Auburn, De Kalb County, Iowa, June, 1852.
5. Jackson, 50 members, September, 1852.
6. Russell, 23 members, October, 1852.
7. Elmore, March, 1853.
8. Bristol, 32 members, May, 1853.
9. LaGrange, September, 1853.
Io. Chester, October, 1852.
II. West Arlington, Vt., January, 1854.
12. Kenton, Hardin County, 26 members, Feb., 1854.
13. Hartsgrove, 33 members, November, 1854.
14. Rome, 60 members, February, 1855.
15. New Lyme, 18 members, March, 1855.
16. Jefferson, 28 members, August, 1855. "Gone to thy heavenly rest ! The flowers of Eden round thee blooming, And on thine ear the murmurs blest Of Siloa's waters softly flowing Beneath the tree of life, which gives To all the earth its healing leaves, In the white robe of angels clad And wandering by that sacred river Whose streams of holiness make glad The city of our God forever !
" Oh! for the death the righteous die ! An end, like autumn's day declining, On human hearts, as on the sky, With holier, tenderer beauty shining ; As to the parting soul were given The radiance of an opening heaven ! As if that pure and blessed light From off the eternal altar flowing, Were bathing, in its upward flight, The spirit to its worship going."
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CHAPTER XIII.
Great Meeting in Austintown, 1830-Dissolution of the Associa- tion-Defeat of Rigdon's Community Scheme-The Church in North Bloomfield-Benjamin Alton-The Cause in Farming- . ton-Harvey Brockett-The Church in Green-W. Bartlett- E. Wakefield.
F OR numbers, ardor of enthusiasm, and impor- tant results, no meeting on the Reserve sur- passed the great assembly in Austintown, in 1830. It was still called the association. The church at that place had built a meeting-house, the first one erected by the Disciples on the Western Reserve. It was completely filled Friday afternoon. Not fewer than twenty preachers attended it, and crowds of people from long distances. Yet the hospitality of the people provided for all. Father Hayden fur- nished provisions for uncounted numbers, and lodged a hundred and fifty ; bringing into requisition for that purpose not only every floor and room in his house ; but the barn also-empty, swept, and furnished. All vied with each other in the profuse generosity which bid all a hearty welcome.
The meeting opened with salutations, songs, exhor- tations, and reports. The next day Henry stepped up quickly into the pulpit where were sitting the older preachers, and said in a low but energetic tone, "I charge you to look out what you are about to do here ; we want nothing here which the word of the Lord will not sanction." They smiled at his bold
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independence as he returned to his seat. His mean- ing was apparent when he arose, soon after, and moved that the association, as an advisory council, be now dissolved. The resolution was offered, put and passed so quickly, that few paused to consider the propriety or effect of it. The most seemed pleased ; but not all. The more thoughtful regretted · it as a hasty proceeding. Mr. Campbell arose and said : “ Brethren, what now are you going to do ? are you never going to meet again?" This fell upon us like a clap of thunder, and caused a speedy change of feelings. Many had come forty or fifty miles, in big wagons even, so eager to enjoy this feast of love. Never meet again ! For a little time joy gave place to gloom. Campbell saw there was no use in stem- ming the tide and pleading for the continuance of the association, even in a modified form. The voice of the reformation, at this juncture, was for demolition, and Scott was thought to favor the motion. Mr. Campbell then proposed that the brethren meet an- nually hereafter for preaching the gospel, for mutual edification, and for hearing reports of the progress of the cause of Christ. This was unanimously ap- proved. Thus ended the association, and this was the origin of the yearly-meeting system among us.
As this action and this occasion became a turning point in our history, a few remarks upon it are de- manded :
I. For three years of unparalleled success we had organic unity of the churches, and harmony of action among the preachers. At New Lisbon one evangel- ist was sent out ; at Warren, two ; at Sharon, four :
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the association in this acting as a delegate body only for evangelical purposes.
2. At the dissolution of the association the sys- tem of evangelization under the auspices and direc- tion of the brotherhood ceased and perished. No one was sent out by that body, as it ceased to be ; nor by the yearly meeting, for no such power was then assumed by the "yearly meeting," nor has been since.
3. Then perished the principle of concert of ac- tion among us for evangelical purposes ; and it lay dormant for years.
4. Therefore we have been, in this respect, in a state of apostasy from our first principles.
5. Due discrimination was not made between the evangelical, which was right, useful, and not liable to dangerous results; and the ecclesiastical, against which the opposition was directed; and that in the overturn of the one, which was, perhaps, liable to objections, the other was destroyed, which was the true principle, and ought to have been carefully pre- served, guarded, and, perhaps, improved.
6. Efforts, unavailing, were often made in our yearly meetings afterwards, to revive the evangelic feature of the lost association ; pleaded for by our own example and history, and by the increasing tes- timony of our experience.
7. Wise men saw the evil, and deplored the result at the time and afterwards ; as Benajah Austin, William Hayden, whose persistent appeals for its re- suscitation provoked many, and by Mr. Campbell, who writes thus in the Millennial Harbinger for 1849; p. 272 :
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"I have before intimated my approval of the Baptist associational formulas, pruned of certain redundencies and encroachments upon faith, piety, and humanity. I was present on the occasion of the dissolution of the 'Ma- honing Baptist Association' in 1828,* on the Western Reserve, State of Ohio. With the exception of one ob- solete preacher, the whole association, preachers and peo- ple, embraced the current reformation. I confess I was alarmed at the hasty and impassioned manner in which the association was, in a few minutes, dissolved. I then, and since, contemplated that scene as a striking proof of the power of enthusiasm and of excitement, and as dan- gerous, too, even in ecclesiastical as well as in political affairs. Counsel and caution, argument and remonstrance, were wholly in vain in such a crisis of affairs. It would have been an imprudent sacrifice of influence to have done more than make a single remonstrance. But that remon- strance was quashed by the previous question, and the regular Baptist Mahoning Association died of a moral apoplexy in a quarter of an hour.
" Reformation and annihilation are not with me now, as formerly, convertible or identical terms. We want oc- casional, if not stated, deliberative meetings on questions of expediency in adaptation to the ever-changing fortune and character of society."
There occurred at this meeting a passage at arms between Mr. Campbell and Mr. Rigdon. It was only about two months previous to the fall of that star from heaven. On Saturday, Rigdon introduced an argument to show that our pretension to follow the apostles in all their New Testament teachings, re-
* As it relates to forms and reports of its doings, it ceased at Warren, 1828. But the resolution for its dissolution was passed at Austintown, 1830. Bro. Campbell was present on both occasions.
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quired a community of goods ; that as they estab- lished this order in the model church at Jerusalem, we were bound to imitate their example. The saga- cious mind of Mr. Campbell saw at once the confu- sion and ruin that would result from such doctrines plausibly presented before a large, eager multitude, many of whom were new converts. He arose and offered a correction of the mistake. This did not satisfy the zealous Rigdon. He rejoined. Mr. Camp- bell felt the necessity of settling the matter, and in a half hour's speech he set forth the following points :
I. The "community system," in the second of Acts, was formed not to make property, but to con- sume it, under the special circumstances attending that case.
2. The matter about Ananias and Sapphira put an end to it.
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