USA > Ohio > Early history of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio : with biographical sketches of the principal agents in their religious movement > Part 31
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This church has many years maintained the "unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace." W. S. Gray, W. S. Hayden, while teaching, have also preached for the congregation. James Calvin has rendered a very efficient aid, and Dr. Whitsler also, in keeping up the meetings. In the beginning of the congre- gation, Bro. John Kirk, by his talent for manage- ment, dash, and zeal, contributed very much to the success of the gospel in the hands of Henry, Hart- zel, Jones, and Samuel Church.
Under the acceptable pastorate of Bro. C. C. Smith, the church is rising to greater strength. They have recently completed a costly and elegant meeting-house, and are in a position to command public respect.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
LESSONS OF OUR FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE.
I. LL the experience of the past forty years con- A firms the soundness and strength of our posi- tion before the world. This position is embraced in three propositions :
Ist, The Bible contains God's only and complete revelation to man.
2d, It is to be interpreted by the ordinary, estab- lished rules.
3d, It is to be interpreted by every man for him- self.
On these three propositions is founded a broad corollary, viz: The Bible, thus interpreted, will in- evitably lead Christendom out of its leopard-like sec- tarianisms back to the original, divine unity, and re- store to the church her lost power for the conversion of the world.
On this bottom we put to sea. Not a leak has yet been found. The vessel has proved herself seaworthy. Her hull is as sound as when she was launched. Nota plank has stirred. She has weathered many storms and rode out many tempests. She has been attacked by the war-crafts of nearly all nations, and is proved to be invincible.
Every re-examination of the ground of our faith has only confirmed it. Why should it not? Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Lord, the reigning Sovereign and Monarch of the whole universe, is the
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only object personal of our faith, our love, and our obedience ; and the whole Bible is the "testimony of Jesus." This is our plea, and it is invulnerable. It never can be overthrown. " The gates of hades shall not prevail against it." It can not be im- proved. We are not advocates of a reformed relig- ion, but of religion itself. Christ's religion can not be reformed. - He is himself the author and the finisher of his most holy religion ; and, like himself, it is perfect. This to proclaim, this to defend, on this divine basis to re-assemble, and re-incorporate the divided battalions of the Captain of salvation ; this is our purpose, our work, and our plea before the men of this generation.
II. Our forty years' experiences teaches the ne- cessity of a due adjustment of the evangelical and pastoral work.
Under Walter Scott a new order arose. It was given to him to blow the trumpet of the gospel. His work was purely an evangelism. The matters of the Christian religion are classified under two funda- mental departments-the evangelical and the ecclesi- astical ; or, the gospel and the church. The gospel is prior to the church. The evangelist forms and establishes the church. This work accomplished, there begins another class of agencies specifically described in the New Testament : This is the elder- ship, or pastorate of the church.
In the beginning, the recovery of the ancient gos- pel, as a lost jewel, so startled and excited all hearts, and the success attending the preaching of it was so marvelous that little was thought of but the speedy and certain capture of the world for Christ. The
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" sects" would surrender, or be blown to atoms. Nothing was looked for but the immediate triumph of the gospel over all opposition. Nor must this ardent hope be accounted a mere enthusiasm, or be handed over to the credit of an overestimate of the importance of the views of the gospel just then freshly brought to light. The law of Moses was "weak through the flesh ;" so, under the gospel of Christ, there is a human side in the affair. Here is where the failure lies of realizing the high hopes of the most brilliant success.
Thoughtful men predicted this at the beginning. The admirable Osborne saw it, and lamented the absence of a system for holding and training the converts. William Hayden foresaw confusion, and a coming disappointment of the mistaken hopes of the more ardent. They remonstrated with Scott, but that angel of the tempest, beholding victory on all sides, blew Jouder his silver trumpet of salvation, and replied : "O, convert the people, and give them the Holy Ghost, and they will be safe !" Benajah Austin, a man of sense like a governor, said to Bentley and Henry: "You must stop; the longer you go on the worse it will be. It will come to con- fusion. If you go on twenty years in this way it will be all the worse, for you will have to stop at last. There must be suitable men appointed to take care of the converts."
No one, not even Scott, consented to a loose, dis- organized state of the churches. Far otherwise. The scriptural eldership, the discipline and edifica- tion of the converts, were the subjects of early and constant discourse. But it was subordinate. Is it
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surprising, then, that some converts fell away? that churches languished, and that numbers of them fell into dilapidation and were extinguished ? If the due adjustment of these two agencies had been suitably disposed at the beginning, it would have resulted in far greater strength and prosperity. It is a marvel that the churches have stood so well-a proof of the truth and power of the principles of our pleading, rather than of the skill or wisdom of our manage- ment.
III. It was a mistake to start so many churches. This error was a result of the exuberance of evan- gelical zeal already noticed. For this there is much apology in the inexperience attending the begin- nings of the enterprise, and still more in the lack of men to maintain the ground conquered by the ag- gression of the heroic evangelist. These cases of neglected congregations are referred to as examples of failure. They oppose now the most formidable obstacle in the way of lifting up the cause into new life.
There is an old Latin proverb which teaches that "it is right to learn, even of an enemy." Other re- ligious bodies could have taught us wisdom, if we had not spurned every thing that the fingers of "secta- rianism" had touched. Perhaps it would have been no less wise to have taken a few hints from their man- agement than it is now for us to gather up the needed lessons from a retrospect of our own. Some twenty- eight years ago Episcopacy set its eye on a commu- nity within the limits of my labors. That cause was, in all respects, feeble. The Presbyterian, Congrega- tional, and other forms of belief, cried out : "If a
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fox go up upon it, he shall even break down their stone wall." The reproach passed unheeded. Every year, not one excepted, the bishop of Ohio has made his parochial visit to this feeble parish. Scarcely has he once failed to "confirm" new members of the body. The interests of that cause have been looked after with a vigilance reflecting credit to that people ; and, it now stands as a monument of their undevia- ting perseverance. Is it an evidence of strength in Episcopacy ? would it be a proof of weakness in us to adopt a similar policy ? Is it strength there and weakness here ? Is it surprising that intelligent, dis- cerning citizens, casting about for a "home," turn from a people where they see evidences of looseness in plan, and weakness in system, and yield themselves up in membership to organized bodies who conduct their enterprises systematically and successfully ? Our gospel has won many friends who have been lost to us through feebleness of plan and want of system.
It would be neither wise nor just to heap reproaches, as is the habit of some, upon the fathers and pioneers of our religious work, for the misdirected efforts of the early part of our history. This wisdom to di- rect could be learned only by experience. And this skillful adjustment of materials could be made only when there were materials to adjust and to manage. But on us, the factors of this age, will justly rest re- proach, if with the past as a lesson, we do not see where to improve. Still more, if seeing, we refuse, on account of willfulness or indifference, to rectify our errors and to labor for reform in our meth- ods.
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IV. THE WANT OF RECORDS.
In the opening of our plea on the Western Re- serve the iconoclast was among us. He wrought for us, though in a far less honorable sense, the work which Goethe said was accomplished by Lord Bacon. " He took a sponge and wiped from the tablet all records of former knowledge."
The cry ran-clear away the rubbish, that the foundations of the Lord's house may be laid. Re- formation is one thing, demolition another, and resto- ration still another. Discrimination did not well rule the hour. No records were kept after 1828. Some of the churches thought it a violation of this reformation to have any records whatever, even a list of the names of the members. There was no au- . thority for it in the word of the Lord. "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak ; where they are silent, we are silent." The noblest of rules ; but, applied to mere prudentials, most egregiously misapplied. So, as the Scriptures gave no instructions about church records the whole matter was ruled out of order, and out of the church.
Alas ! what has been lost by this misdirected zeal ! The zeal was good, but the wisdom was the essence of folly. What would we not give now for a contin- uance of the records of the Mahoning Association, which met two years under that name after the records ceased ? Why were there no records of our yearly meetings ? What rich and abundant materials for future history and instruction ?
Who can tell us, from historic data, even now cor- rectly, about our debates, and the mighty campaigns
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which have given us so many communities for Jesus Christ ? Who now, from any preserved records, can tell the history of Henry, that swift messenger of the glad tidings ? In vain we question records for an account of his conversion, his baptism, and how he came forth from being a driver of oxen and a bu- gler for regiments, to become a leader in the embat- tled hosts of the armies of the living God. And Brockett, the blessed; and Smith, the saint; and Collins, the colleague of the honorable !
In these pages, personal knowledge and gathered data have, in part, supplied this lack. But this source of information is, with the passing genera- tion, rapidly going down to the dumb grave; the silent receptacle of all things human.
The scribe was a man of high authority among the Jews, a little vain, and a sweep of his robe somewhat too ample. The horn of oil made the nation jubilant when it was emptied in the consecration of a priest or a king. But the horn of ink has made many na- tions joyful by its recitals of their deeds, and its transmissions of their jubilees.
Oh, that Scott had kept a diary ! that our earlier men had written as well as talked! Thanks to Bax- ter, whose skill and zeal have evoked from the tomb of the mighty, a history distinguished both for its beauty and its truth. Of what infinite embarrass- ment would he have been relieved by contempora- neous records !
The historic muse prepared his reed to sing the illustrious deeds of the panoplied pioneers, not in verse, but in plain and humble prose. Yet the prose should fall little below the powers of the loftiest
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muses, to record in fitting terms the grand anthem of their heroism and their triumph. Shall the next generation find this one as barren of records as we find the past ?
V. Once more. All our past history proclaims the necessity of a combination of effort to advance the gospel.
This cause originated in conventional effort. After three years these associational plans were laid aside, and we subsided, on this point, into a state of apostasy. During the last twenty years we have been slowly recovering and steadily returning to our first works. In August, 1827, ministers of the gospel assembled in New Lisbon, selected an evangelist, and sent him into the field. This action gave us Walter Scott. In 1828, the churches were again represented by delegation in Warren. This convention chose and sent out Walter Scott and William Hayden. In 1829, the association repeated its work, sending into the evan- gelical field four men-Scott, Hayden, Bentley, and Bosworth.
On this concert of action, the following observa- tions deserve particular mention :
Ist, These evangelists were selected and sent out by the ministry of the church, acting in their dele- gated capacity.
2d, This joint action was threefold:
(a) They selected ministers, or proclaimers of the gospel ;
(b) They appointed their fields of labor ;
(c) They arranged for their compensation.
3d, The churches felt bound by the action of their delegates. They received the evangelists, and by
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contributions and other material ways they assisted and co-operated in their work.
It should be farther noted, that Bro. Campbell was the prime mover and the active leader in this scheme of associational effort to bring an evangelist into the field. This movement was conducted with the most perfect unanimity, not a dissentient in that body. It was the action of the soundest, wisest, most delibera- tive, and prudent men.
The twenty years succeeding is the period of our anarchy. During this time we had no concert, regu- lar or irregular, stated or incidental, if we except some ineffectual efforts to bring a better order into existence. The great saving power was the yearly meeting system. This, serving as a bond of union, was a powerful support to the cause. These meet- ings were the conservation of the churches. They were aggressive, adding multitudes of converts. By diffusing a general, personal acquaintance, they culti- vated a strong tie of brotherhood. Yet with all their benefits, which were neither few nor weak, they were not organic. They sent out no missionaries ; they called for no reports ; they performed no action for the churches, nor for the systematic diffusion of the gospel. They came as a cloud with blessings, poured out their treasure of good, and departed.
During these years many attempts were made to form co-operations. They were failures. The cry of priest-craft, or sectarianism, was alone sufficient to blast the effort for order.
The first fact, or action, which gathered to it a general confidence, was the establishment of the Ec- lectic Institute. It opened its halls for students in
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November, 1850. Slowly at first, amid doubts and opposition, it got under way. It gained rapidly, and won the confidence of all the brotherhood in north- eastern Ohio. The chief glory of that institution has not been told : which was, that it created a most desirable and useful general confidence among us. We united. We joined hands around one good en- terprise. The purpose succeeded, and vindicated the most useful sentiment of union in action. May this lesson never be lost. As the noble Eclectic In- stitute, of many happy memories, has not died, but has succeeded in a still more noble and useful Insti- tution, our beloved Hiram College-long may it pros- per-so let this general unity of confidence, to which it gave birth, grow into all that is desirable in the formation of all needful plans to send forth the gos- pel as at the beginning of our blessed work. This confidence is transferring itself to our missionary work. Around this society let it rally till it shall be- come a permanent power in the land!
VI. LAST, BUT NOT LEAST.
As this blessed cause, so dear to our hearts, has maintained itself in all vicissitudes, has braved all opposition, and still flourishes with little combina- tion among its leaders, will our forty years' experience, if questioned, speak out and tell us the reason? I answer most unequivocally, it will. Its answer is in 2 Tim. 4 : 1, 2. preach the word!" This is the only solution. This answer is complete.
Ask the blessed dead, they will tell you ; the Apple- gates, the Altons, the Bosworths, the Brocketts, and the Bentleys ; the Collins, the Clapps ; the Haydens,
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the Henrys, and the Smiths ; the Otises, the Waits, and the Violls. They preached the gospel. They were no mere essayists. They were not theorizers, nor speculatists. They preached Christ and him crucified. In this they were a unit. The same gos- pel was preached in every town, county, and school district. They used their Bibles. They read, quoted, illustrated, and enforced the Holy Scriptures. This lesson is all important. We must " preach the word," not something about the gospel, but the gospel itself. Some of our preachers should sit at the feet of the departed veterans, and learn to speak and enforce Bible themes in Bible words. Let us have more Scripture, in its exact meaning and import ; more gospel, more of Jesus, his will, his mission, and his work. This was their power. It will be ours. Most of all, and last of all, we impress this lesson : preach the gospel in season, out of season. Preach it as Peter preached, as Paul preached it. Be not weak, nor ashamed of its facts, commands, and promises, as delivered to us by our fathers ; and to them by the holy apostles.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
1 AN ABBREVIATED ACCOUNT OF CHURCHES OMITTED, OR RECENTLY ORGANIZED. 1
ALLIANCE, Stark Co .- Organized March, 1857, with thirty mem- bers, by P. K. Dibble. Elders; Asa Silvers and Elwood Pat- terson. Deacons; Mathias Hester, H. H. Hubbard, and Edward Pettit. Preachers succeeding Bro. Dibble ; A. B. Way, J. Pinkerton, Isaac Errett, J. H. Jones, F. M. Green, E. L. Frazier. Present number, three hundred and thirty-five. El- ders; A. W. Coates, J. W. Phillips. Deacons; M. Hester, Saml. Miller, J. C. Sheets, Wm. Watson, J. C. Sutton, J. M. Fogle, G. W. Thornberg.
AUBURN, Geauga Co .- Formed April 10, 1841, with twenty-nine members, by A. S. Hayden. R. Granger, overseer; John Brown and Jonathan Burnet, deacons. This church has been aided by most of the preachers. They have a good house, and continue to meet.
BAZETTA, WEST, Trumbull Co .- Organized December 16, 1848, by Calvin Smith, with forty members. Levi Bush and Alden Faunce, overseers; Ellis Pierce, Jas. Sage, and Jacob Dice, deacons. This church has received help from most of the preachers. Present elders; Hiram Wilber, Milo Crawford. Deacons; Jacob Shaffer, John Wier, and Jas. Wier. One hun- dred and four members.
BIRMINGHAM, Erie Co .- Began in 1829, by Clapp and Rigdon, un- der whose influence Elder Orrin Abbott led the chief part of . the Baptist church of Henrietta into the reformation. Hay- den, Moss, Green, and Moody, followed up the work. Church was reorganized July, 1841, with Almon Andress and D. B. Turner, elders; and Silas Wood, Abner Hancock, and Wm. Parker, deacons. Other leading helps; John Cyrenius, B. Al-
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ton, W. O'Connor, J. Encell, and R. G. White. Bro. G. W. Mapse, of Illinois, arose in this church.
BROOKFIELD, Trumbull Co .- The ground was broken as early as 1828 by Hayden, Henry, and Hartzel. A church was formed there February 22, 1875, with thirty-three names. Deacons, Robert S. Hart and Henry Hamilton. Present number, fifty- eight. Arnold Taylor, Henry L. Patterson, and Jesse Hoag- land, overseers.
BRISTOL, NORTH, Trumbull Co .- In 1860, H. Reeves baptized twenty-eight. In 1868, J. N. Smith added fifty-five, when by him and N. N. Bartlett, the church was organized with ninety- two members. The elders were Hiram Thayer and A. A. House. The deacons : Jacob Sager and S. A. Davidson. A live church with a good house. Dr. I. A. Thayer and D. P. Thayer, preachers, arose here. E. Wakefield has been a chief support of the church.
CAMDEN, Lorain Co .- Organized May 21, 1842, with five names; John Cyrenius, elder. Established in Kipton, November 27, 1872, with thirty-eight. Daniel Kingsbury and R. C. Eastman, elders ; deacons, H. H. Crandall and James Van Dusen. Pres- ent number one hundred and thirty-four. Officers : James Van Dusen, Wm. Anderson, and Hiram Prentice, elders ; deacons, H. H. Crandall, Chauncey Close, Wm. Douglass, and Frank Danzy. Pastor, James Vernon.
CHESTER, Geauga Co .- At the instance of W. A. Lillie and A. Harper, Bro. Hartzel came in October, 1842, when the meet- ings began and continued. Reorganized October, 1852, by C. Smith and A. L. Soule. Alonzo Matthews, overseer ; Cyrus Millard and A. Scott, deacons. A. Burns, W. A. Lillie, and J. G. Coleman, efficient helps. Present officers : C. Millard, A. Harper, and C. H. Welton, elders; Porter Scott and Albert Phinney, deacons. About forty members.
DENMARK, Ashtabula Co .- Planted January, 1857, by Orrin Gates. It had sixteen members; S. S. Chapman and D. G. White, overseers. This body dissolved in a few years, but it lives in its representatives. Four preachers came from it, viz. : S. S. Chapman, and the three brothers H. J. White, D. J. White, and R. G. White.
EDINBURG, Portage Co .- In 1865, a church of thirty members was planted here by S. S. Chapman, with Wm. Cowell and Cyrus
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Turnbull, elders ; and Jesse Rogers and George Stump, dea- cons. Succeeding helps : E. Wakefield, F. M. Green, B. A. Baker, D. C. Hanselman. Present number sixty-five. Linas Rogers, preacher. Three preachers, brothers, have arisen here, viz. : Edwin Rogers, Linas Rogers, and W. H. Rogers, sons of Jesse Rogers.
ELYRIA, Lorain Co .- It began in the tour of Clapp and Rigdon in 1829. Wm. Hayden soon came, followed by Green, Moody, and Jones. Church formed in 1832. It increased till there were forty members. Chief men: Herrick Parker, H. Red- dington, Asahel Parmly, Dr. Butler. It expired by removals. J. D. Benedict came into the work here, leaving the bar to plead the gospel, in which he won many converts, and a wide reputation.
FAIRFIELD, NORTH, Huron Co .- At the request of Ezra Leonard, A. B. Green came July 4, 1835. In 1836 he returned, accom- panied by J. J. Moss, when the church began, with Jonas Leonard and McLain, elders. W. A. Lillie, Dana Call, and Wm. Dowling, continued the work. In 1854 the church was organized in North Fairfield with over thirty mem- bers, by the lamented Henry Dixon, whose preaching created a wide and profound interest. Many also united under the preaching of A. Burns. Present elders : Isaiah Cline, D. H. Reed, and Bro. Culbertson.
FOWLER, Trumbull Co .- Started January, 1832, with thirty mem- bers, by J. Applegate, assisted by A. S. Hayden. Early evan- gelists ; Wm. Hayden, Bosworth, and Allerton. Reorganized March, 1851, by C. Smith and J. T. Phillips, with thirty-five members. Elders, A. W. Porter and Milo Dugan ; deacons, J. L. Jones, Menville Tyrrell. Succeeding elders, A Humeston, Chas. Fowler, H. C. Williamson, and David Campbell. Dea- cons following : Hiram Porter, James McCleery, Alex Camp- bell, Addison Dawson, Jasper Kingsley. Present officers; A. Dawson, Lewis Alderman, Menville Tyrrell, overseers; N. C. Fisk and S. J. Rand, deacons.
GENEVA, Ashtabula Co .- Formed October 17, 1868, with thirty-four members, under the auspices of the Ohio Missionary Society. Present, R. R. Sloan, Isaac Errett, A. S. Hayden; elders, A. S. Turney, Edward Brakeman ; deacons, E. D. Gage, F. C. Baur, and H. N. Amidon. Present elders, A. S. Turney and
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Frederick Dickinson; deacons, D. Foot and H. Saunders. Number of members, one hundred and fifty-seven.
HAMDEN, Geauga Co .- This church originated in the labors of Rig- don and Collins. By the latter it was formed in 1829. Geo. Hale, overseer ; John Bartholomew, deacon. Sustained chiefly by Thos. Campbell, Clapp, and Collins. In 1848 there were yet twenty-four members. Sometime after this it ceased to meet.
HUNTSBURG, Geauga . Co .- It arose in 1829, by the labors of Hay- den, Henry, Collins, and Saunders. Brethren Howells, Cha- pin Moss, Brackett, and Clarke, stood long and firmly on the ground. In 1848 they enrolled still twenty-three members. Lillie, A. P. Jones, Robison, and White, have also rendered important service there. A number of members still hold the house, and represent the church.
HAMILTON'S CORNERS, Medina Co .- This congregation arose in the labors of J. Encell. It was organized by A. B. Green, July 23, 1871, with thirty-six members. The overseers are S. T. Adams and Chas. Kenyon ; W. H. Floyd and O. Birchard, deacons. Brethren Moody, Gibbs, and I. A. Searles, have been helps. Present number, sixty-three.
HARTSGROVE, Ashtabula Co .- Formed November, 1854, by C. Smith and O. Gates. J. Bartholomew a frequent aid. Lead- ing members ; A. Watson, N. Hubbard, I. Y. Mckinney, and Edward Lee. Present number, sixty-five.
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