USA > Ohio > Early history of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio : with biographical sketches of the principal agents in their religious movement > Part 7
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Young Mitchell was charmed with his conversa- tion, and the brogue of his native Scotch tongue. He had never met him before. Scott, turning to Se- crest, asked if this young man had any gift in ex- hortation ? He replied that he had, and that if he would keep humble he might do much good. " God bless him," said Scott. "I hope he will; he is the man I want. You meet me at Bro. Jacob Camp- bell's, in New Lisbon, and we will away to Warren and besiege the town ten days and nights: I will preach and you will exhort, and we will make their ears tingle with the ancient gospel."
The Mitchells were a preaching family. They were men of firmness, promptitude, untiring zeal, and abundant in labors. The three brothers-James, Nathan, and David-were sons of William Mitchell, whose ancestors emigrated from England with Lord Baltimore, and settled in Maryland. William Mitch- ell removed to Washington County, Pa., where James was born, December 5, 1805, and Nathan, March 2, 1808. Near Morristown, Belmont County, O., in 1813, where Mr. Mitchell had moved with his family, Joseph Hughes, of saintly memory, and Lewis Hamrick, re- vivalists of the "Christian connection," found them, and led them, father and sons, out of the wilderness
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of religious doubt and conflict into the way of the gospel as practiced by that order of people. Brought forward in "exhortation," as was their custom, James and Nathan, and eventually David also, be- came prominent, and they have long been in the front rank among the most active and useful preach- ers of the gospel.
At the time agreed on, Bro. Mitchell went to New Lisbon, where he found Bro. Scott waiting for him. They arrived at Scott's residence in Canfield that evening, and next morning they proceeded to War- ren, and found a welcome in the family of Bro. Rich- ard Brooks.
It was January, 1828. The town lay in spiritual lethargy, profoundly ignorant of the tempest of spiritual excitement about to sweep over the place. Bentley had preached well and lived well; but he held not the key to the heart, nor was he skilled to awaken the music of the soul. A new era was at hand in the religious history of Warren.
Scott came unheralded. His first appointment was attended by few. There was neither expecta. tion nor interest sufficient to collect an audience. A group of little boys, to some of whom he had spoken along the street in his eccentric way, were attracted by curiosity to the meeting which was held in the court-house. These, with a few old people, consti- tuted his audience. In his discourse, after address- ing the old with little apparent effect, he turned play- fully to the boys, related to them some anecdotes, then skillfully changing his theme and tone, he melted them with sympathy for the sufferings of Je- sus. His discourse was anecdote, pathos, wit, elo-
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quence, and general remark, the whole intended for future rather than present effect. He announced another appointment, and dismissed. Mitchell was disgusted.
" We had not gone far," he writes, " before I asked him if that was the way he was going to pursue in besieg- ing the town of Warren !- and if that was his ancient gospel ! If so, I have no farther business in Warren." ' Oh!' he said, " my dear brother, there was no one there worth preaching to, and I just threw that out for a bait. Hold still, we shall have a hearing yet, and then we will pour the great truths of the gospel red hot into their ears !' I thought possibly he was strategic in his method of gaining a hearing, and concluded to wait the issue.
" He was cheerful and social all the afternoon, anxious to get a hearing. Bro. Brooks kept silent. We could learn nothing concerning the discourse from the old folks or the boys. So passed this first day of the siege.
" At the appointed time we started to the meeting. The Baptist Church was secured, doubtless through Bro. Bentley's permission. Passing up, we found it crowded to its utmost capacity, and a number on the outside. Giv- ing me an elbow touch, 'Do you see them nibbling at the bait ? ' said he. 'Yes,' I told him, ' I see plenty of people present.' We pressed our way through the dense crowd to the pulpit. We sung his favorite song ---
" Come and taste along with me Consolation running free From my Father's wealthy throne, Sweeter than the honey-comb."
I opened with prayer. After it, he arose and read the third and fourth chapters of Matthew. The baptism of Christ and the temptation, was his theme. He straightened
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himself to his full height, his great chocolate eyes glisten- ing, his whole face full of animation and earnestness. He brought his siege guns into position, and for an hour and a half the house rang with his eloquence. I shall not attempt to give an outline, for no man could do justice to that sermon. While he described the Son of God hurling the word of his Father and his God on the great adversary, and lashing his hardened soul with words that had pro- ceeded out of the mouth of God, until his brazen face shriveled, and his countenance most brazen fell, and he left, cowed, dismayed, foiled in his attempt, and the won- derful hero of redemption master of the field, victorious in the terrible conflict, while heaven's hosts came and ministered to him-he was powerful, lofty, and sublime. I had never heard such a discourse, so touching, so telling, not only on me, for the whole audience was moved.
"The siege was now fairly commenced. Up to the next Thursday an incessant fire was kept up day and night. The ancient gospel was poured into their ears. They were astonished, amazed. They got their Bibles, and went to reading and searching for the truth. No word fell on the floor, or hit the wall-all was eagerly caught and tried by the book. They could do nothing against it ; it was the simple gospel of Christ in its facts, and commands, and promises.
" After the discourse on the temptation, he said we will sing a hymn, and see who will be on the Lord's side. We sang-
" Come and taste along with me," etc.
" Three persons came forward. He asked them if they believed with all their heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 'These persons,' said he, ' will be baptized to-morrow after sermon, for the remission of their sins.' We baptized every day, and sometimes the same hour of the night."
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The tide of interest was flowing high. Scott's next discourse was on Peter's confession, Matt. xvi : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," a grand theme, favorite with him, and grandly handled. Mitchell came after with a spirited and powerful ex- hortation to the people to come and take their stand on this durable and firm foundation which God has laid as the only hope of the world.
Baptism followed the evening meeting. Mitchell says to Scott, " Do not let the people know where we are going, and we will slip over to Bro. Jacob Harsh's and get a good night's rest, and be prepared for the labors of the next day"-for every night the places where they put up were crowded with inquiring and anxious souls. Mitchell retired and left Bro. Scott drying his clothes. It was but a few minutes before the house was filled with awakened people. Scott said, "If you follow me to learn the ancient gospel, I will pour it into your ears as long as I can wag a word off the end of my tongue." Mitchell fell asleep, leaving Mr. Scott speaking to the people. A number were deeply penitent. Scott awoke Mitchell, and told him to come and deliver one of his pathetic ex- hortations. " I would be in a fine mood, Bro. Walter, to exhort the people, just aroused from sleep !" "The iron is hot ; one stroke when hot is worth a dozen when it is cold !" Out came Mitchell, singing as he came an old hymn, beginning :
" Begone, unbelief ! my Savior is near,
And for my relief will surely appear."
He then began an exhortation based on the word " lost." The great loss, ah ! the greatest, was to lose the soul ; to be lost to God and Christ ; and heaven
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and angels ; and the pure and good ; lost to eternal life and all bliss. Mr. John Tait, a Presbyterian, who had been strongly opposed, but who was now deeply moved, cried out, " Young man, for mercy's sake pray for me, for my heart is as hard and unfeeling as a stone." "Bless God !" said Scott, " Tait is a conver- ted man." They all kneeled down, and Bro. Mitchell prayed for him. He wept aloud ; so did Scott. "We are," said he, "to weep with them that weep, and re- joice with them that rejoice." Then, addressing Tait, Scott said, " Are you willing to follow your faith ? Do you believe with all your heart in Jesus Christ the Son of God ? "Mr. Scott, I do ; but my heart is so hard ; I am as unfeeling as a stone." "Ah! but ' we walk by faith.' 'This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.' Let your feelings gush up from your faith in God's Son, effects which must fol- low the obedience of faith." "Mr. Scott, I am ready to obey my faith." "Bless God ! that is the path to travel."
Once more they started for the Mahoning, singing out on the midnight air as they went,
" Come and taste along with me, Consolation running free."
Mr. Tait and several others were baptized upon the confession of their faith in the Savior of sinners ; after which, Scott, addressing them, said, " Follow your faith."
Next morning, the crowd still large, Scott asked Bro. Mitchell to proceed in the discourse ; which he did from the words of Peter concerning the "lively hope." He was only well begun, when Mr. Tait cried out, "I give glory to God ! my soul is full of
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love to God and man." The effect was wonderful. "Go on," said Scott to the preacher. "It is no use ; the feelings of the people are too high above any effort I can make." Scott took the audience, and in a very forcible manner gave an opportunity to obey the glorious gospel and be filled with the fullness of God. A number came penitently to confess their Savior.
The next meeting closed the siege. Two such houses would not have held the people. "Too many," said Scott, "for the effect we wish to produce." The closing discourse was a recapitulation of the princi- pal topics discoursed during the meeting. So ended the siege of Warren, with over fifty conversions.
Bro. Mitchell adds in conclusion :
" It is due Bro. Walter Scott to give him credit as among the first on the continent of America, if not the very first, who took the old field-notes of the apostles and run the original survey, beginning at Jerusalem. The first man I ever heard preach baptism in the name of Jesus, with its antecedents, for the remission of sins, and reduce it to practice. And from this period, 1827, it spread like fire on a prairie all over the country, and happy thousands have rejoiced to learn how to become disciples of Christ ac- cording to the divine arrangement and purpose of God."
Scarce a vestige remained of the church in Warren to oppose the establishment of the ancient order. Additions continued to come in under the preaching of Bentley, Osborne, and Elder Thomas Campbell, who arrived soon afterward in the place. The fires of a new religious life were kindled in neighboring communities. On the 6th of March, 1830, the breth- ren in Howland were dismissed to form a church in
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that place. In the beginning of the year 1831, Cyrus Bosworth and Benajah Austin were chosen bishops of the church, and Richard S. Brooks, James Gibson, and Moses Haskell, deacons. The members in Lordstown, whose names were chronicled in Warren, sent a petition to be set off, to unite with the church in that town, which was granted October 2Ist, 1832.
Bro. Bentley having located near Chagrin Falls, the church in Warren was left to supply itself with another pastor. At their call, Bro. Jonas Hart- zel came; and on the 5th of April, 1835, he was in- stalled as preacher, and associate elder with Bro. C. Bosworth. Subsequently, the church has had J. E. Gaston, Isaac Errett, John W. Errett, and others, who, with a judicious and experienced eldership, have maintained to this day the cause of Christ in War- ren.
Very early a congregation sprang up in Lordstown. The new converts-fruits of Scott's meeting in War- ren, with the members already there, and others gath- ered by Henry, Marcus Bosworth, and others-gave them such strength, that on the 20th of March, 1830, forty-one came together in the order of the Scripture models. Robert Tait and Moses Haskell were over- seers, and John Tait and David Lewis, deacons. The church grew to considerable strength, and few have had a more stable brotherhood. They have partici- pated in all the enterprises by which the cause of primitive Christianity has been sustained. The pres- ent number is about fifty. They have a good house of worship, and have been favored recently with the diligent and prudent labors, as pastor and elder, of Philander Green.
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BIOGRAPHY OF ADAMSON BENTLEY.
The life of a good man is a blessing to the world. As certain waters transmute to stone the perishable wood de- posited in them, so communion with God turns all the actions of a man's life to immortality. Biography has its office-its mission among men. The biographic pen, like the pencil, rightly used, works out immortal things. Its rightful use is to record, in durable permanence, a useful life which floats in transient recollections, and to extend it from the family to the world.
Adamson Bentley is beloved for his work's sake, ten- derly remembered for qualities of character which mark him as a rare and noble man. He was born July 4th, 1785, in Allegheny County, Pa. While he was yet young his father moved with his numerous family to Brookfield, Trumbull County, Ohio ; a country not yet rescued from the dominion of the primitive forest. Here young Bent- ley experienced the privations common to pioneer life. He struggled through encumbering difficulties till he ob- tained a suitable education for the profession in life in which he was so long distinguished.
He made public confession of his faith in Christ when he was a youth, in the Baptist order. His religious guard- ians discovering the bent and capacity of the young Timo- thy, and correctly foreseeing the usefulness to which he might attain, advised him to prepare for the ministry.
He began to preach at nineteen. Holding the system of Calvinism to be the unquestionable scheme of saving grace, he taught and urged its doctrines with the most un- scrupulous fidelity. The clashing between the offers of mercy to all men, and the system which denied this sal- vation to any but the elect, was constantly present and constantly felt. In the honest devotion of his nature he carried the system in his head, and the love of God in his
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heart. And as the heart, in this behalf, was better than the head, he proclaimed the love of Christ so powerfully that many conversions followed his ministry. As no man, probably, ever believed this doctrine more sincerely, so no one ever rejoiced more fully when its scales fell from his eyes. Take the following testimony from his own lips, as the writer heard him, in his own solemn style, declare his feelings in the great yearly meeting in Hubbard, 1837 :
" I used to take my little children on my knee, and look upon them as they played in harmless innocence about me, and wonder which of them was to be finally and forever lost ! It can not be that God has been so good to me as to elect all my children ! No, no ! I am myself a miracle of mercy, and it can not be that God has been kinder to me than to all other parents. Some of these must be of the non-elect, and will be finally banished from God and all good. 'And now,' he continued, his paren- tal heart swelling with unutterable emotions, 'if I only knew which of my children were to dwell in everlasting burnings, oh! how kind and tender would I be to them, knowing that all the comfort they would ever experience would be here in this world! But now I see the gos- pel admits all to salvation. Now I can have every one for eternal happiness. Now I can pray and labor for them in hope.' "
His prayers were heard : years before his departure, he enjoyed that greatest bliss of a pious parent's heart-he saw all his children walking in the truth.
He preached about five years as a licentiate. In 1810, he settled in Warren, and on the 19th of May, that year, he was ordained. On the 4th of May, the next year, at the unanimous call of the church, he accepted the duties of pastor. . For a long time he was popular in that com- munity. The bland dignity of his manners, and his social courtesy, won him many friends. Though his talents as a preacher were above mediocrity, and he was heard with
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delight and profit by numerous auditors, to his social qualities and moral excellencies, as a man and a citizen, are to be traced the sources of that extensive power which he possessed among the people. It is our fortune to be ac- quainted with few persons in a life-time, who wield a per- sonal influence so supreme. Tall, manly, graceful, with a countenance radiant with good nature, affable and digni- fied, he would stand among dignitaries as his equals, and condescend to the lowly with a gentleness which won the attachment of every heart.
In all that constitutes home a source and fountain of hospitable generosities, his amiable companion was quite his equal. With more economy and equal social talent, she managed her household with such skill that the en- tertained and the entertainers seemed equally happy. In those earlier days, when social habits were not yet costumed into rigid rule, many a traveler urged his journey an hour later and a few miles further to be a guest at his broad hearth-fires. None knew better than the gratefully re- membered mistress of that hospitable home, how to "wel- come the coming and speed the going guest."
As may well be supposed, on a limited salary, the in- creasing expenses of his family had not a sufficient foun- dation. He therefore for a time resorted to merchandise, merely as subsidiary, however, for he never neglected the preaching of the gospel.
. In the course of his ministry he traveled extensively. He visited Kentucky, and labored a considerable time among the brethren in that State, and made many friends. The governor of that State received him into his mansion, and showed him marked attentions. He traveled much in Pennsylvania. He crossed the mountains in his saddle many times. At a time when population was sparse, and the mountain passes were infested by robbers, he climbed the craggy cliffs of those mountain barriers to tell to the East the progress of salvation in the West, and to bear
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back to the West a share of the harvests the brethren were reaping in the cities of the East. In these travels he made the acquaintance of the renowned Dr. William Stoughton. A lasting friendship grew up between the two ministers, which Bentley perpetuated by giving to his oldest son the name of his friend. Dr. Stoughton was the author of an abridgment of Dr. Gill's "Complete Body of Divinity," a work which, through Mr. Bentley's influence, found many purchasers in the West.
About the years 1820 to 1825, Mr. Bentley was visiting the Baptist Church which met near Cleveland's Mills in the corner of Youngstown. The memory of some yet living returns with speed swifter than carrier-dove to those primitive scenes of unsectarianized simplicity. The groves, " God's first temples," were spacious, and the umbrageous forests, cleared underneath, lent solemnity and impressiveness to the scene. I have seen him there with a wagon for his rostrum, and seats brought from the adjacent mills for the accommodation of the crowd which had gathered from miles around. Some leaned at the base, or sat down on the roots of the trees, whose leafy boughs interlacing, wove a sheltering protection against the sun's descending beams. When he stood up to read, all lis- tened ; when he lifted up his eyes to pray, all arose ; when he announced, in devout accent, the sweet and solemn hymn, all joined to swell the chorus of praise. Those: days and scenes have been celebrated in poetic lines :
" I well remember, and I love to stray Down to the grove where BENTLEY used to pray ; Where pious neighbors thronged the place around, And stood, or leaned, or sat upon the ground. I well remember how he used to stand, And hold his Bible in his leftward hand; And use his right to point out what it meant, While lofty oaks in silence waved assent !"
When the great religious awakening under the Camp-
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bells began to make a stir, though cautious, he was one of the first to accept the principles of a scriptural re- form by them so ably propounded. This appeal to prim- itive ground created much conflict among all the religious bodies, but especially among the Baptist churches. He made acquaintance with those eminent men, and so thor- oughly had he canvassed the claims of their call for union on Bible ground, that when the bold and eloquent Walter Scott came to Warren, Bentley seconded his labors, and warmly co-operated with him on that occasion. There followed a great ingathering of souls; and the whole church, with scarcely an exception, adopted the platform of union contained in the New Testament. He continued to preach with great power and with fresh zeal, now that the new disclosures of the knowledge of the gospel had been made known, and many converts came to Christ under his ministry. In 1829, at the Association in Sharon, he was chosen along with Scott, Hayden, and Bosworth, to travel within its bounds.
At the close of the year 1831 he removed to Chagrin Falls. While laboring to establish himself in his new home, he " neglected not the gift that was in him." He preached at every opportunity, not only without regard to compensation, but rendering such help as his circum- stances permitted to lay the foundations of the cause in that new community.
It will not be possible to follow minutely the active and useful life of Adamson Bentley. Such a history would make a volume of considerable dimensions. His interest in the cause of Christ, and the union of all the Israel of God on the primitive foundation, never flagged. He had great assurance of hope in the speedy dawn of the blessed day for the original union of the people of God to be per- fectly restored. His great love of peace, and his ardent, hopeful temperament led him to indulge bright visions of
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the speedy triumph of the pure, primitive gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Age drew on apace, and with it a gradual decrease of his ability to endure field-service under the King. Yet he never desisted. At nearly eighty, decrepitude forced him to retire. The going down of his day was gradual and beautiful, like the decline of the sun, leaving in full play the amiabilities of his fine social nature. Serenity and cheerfulness still held sway, while the eye grew dim, and the natural force abated. While lingering on the shore of the cold stream, he beheld the "shining ones," and longed to be with them. " I rely not on myself ; my full and only trust is in the Rock which was cleft for me." Full of hope and full of days, he took his departure for the brighter world, November 2, 1864. He lacked only eight months of eighty full years. For sixty years he blew the trumpet, and led Israel in the glorious combat.
In personal appearance, Mr. Bentley was more than an average man in dignity and comeliness. He was tall, finely proportioned, graceful in manners, and endowed with a remarkably open and engaging countenance. His noble form never stooped, till near the close of life he bowed a little, like a sheaf well ripened for the harvest.
As a preacher, like all men who leave their impression on society, he was like no one else, and no one resembled him. He usually began slowly, with simple and plain statements of his subject, rambling not unfrequently, till warming in his theme, he broke the shackles of logic, and swept on like a swelling tide, bearing his audience along with the vehemence of his pathos and commanding oratory. On such occasions his voice became full, sono- rous, and powerful. When the shower was passed, the people not caring to analyze the sermon, or to trace their emotions to logical sources, were delighted and edified, and departed with marked and decided respect for the preacher, and with far higher reverence for the adorable
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Son of God, whom he preached and whom he served. He never trifled in the pulpit. His message was solemn; and seriously and earnestly did he deliver it.
A life so equable as his, so uniform in its flow, has left no abruptness or sudden dash; little that is startling to create a fund of cherished anecdote. The few that are handed down bear the impress of his character. At one time infidelity, and even atheism, made considerable headway in Warren. On a Lord's day he arose in a full assembly, and after surveying the audience in silence for a moment, exclaimed : " There is no God !" The people looked surprised, while wonder and doubt glanced around. A moment more, and he repeated it with stronger empha- sis. Perceiving the hearers to be thoroughly aroused, he looked inquiringly into his Bible for a moment. " But," he continued, in a softened tone, " I have omitted a part of the sentence: 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God!'" The discourse which followed was a clear and convincing proof of the existence and perfections of the Creator of all things.
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